The Mystery Shack's Night After Summerween Madness
by StkAmbln
Summary: Set immediately after the Candy Monster short, which in this story takes place the night after Summerween. Dipper and Mabel should have known that nothing good could result from Soos eating the Trickster's body. Now, the Mystery Twins must team up with the strangest ally and try to survive the night inside a Mystery Shack controlled by a not so friendly handyman. (semi-OC)
1. Chapter 1

**The Mystery Shack's Night After Summerween Madness**

**CHAPTER 1**

"_And that was the end of it. The scariest adventure of a lifetime for me and my friends, the boys and girls of the small town of Boring, Oregon. And know that everyone in town learned that night to never again underestimate nerdy guys like me, and to be careful next time we see the green steam coming out of the sewerage. But the most important thing was that, from that day on, none of us laughed anymore when some old folk or a little kid spoke about…The Little Green Men From Below Pine Street._"

The TV screen went black and the words "The End" appeared on it. They were followed abruptly by "For now", as green steam covered everything and the credits started to run.

"Wooow... that was amazing. Wasn't it guys?" Dipper said, with a stupid astonishment look on his face.

Mabel just stared at him, not so amazed.

"I think it was stupid."

"What?!" Dipper shouted, the stupid look vanishing.

"Seriously Dipper. How can you like a movie about tiny people that live beneath our feet, and whose most lethal weapon is some kind of party fog machine?" Mabel sounded ironically scared at the last words.

"The Little Green Men From Below Pine Street is simply one of the most awesome and scariest films made with a really low budget of all times. That's why it airs every Halloween. They even showed it here in Gravity Falls!"

"They showed it because they had nothing more left. The really good movies aired yesterday .You know, the night of Halloween? Or Summerween, whatever. Like 'Vampires Take Over Prom Night' or 'Guess Who's Coming To Suck Your Blood'."

"Aghh, you mean the ones where the blood spilled in super slow motion just for the 3D effect?"

"Don't forget the really handsome vampire boys. Man, I wouldn't mind being the "special first meal" of a guy like that." Images started to form on Mabel's head.

Dipper just rolled his eyes, knowing exactly what was happening on his sister's mind. She kept naming more horror movies about vampires and other creatures that were portrayed by young handsome actors. That was the reason why Dipper didn't like those movies. That, and the excessive amount of artificial blood which spilled by gallons every time someone lost a part of their body. _The guys behind those films must have never read a school biology book _Dipper thought. _They don't have a clue about how much blood exists in the human blood stream. _The worst part was that nobody seemed to care about it. They wanted only violence and internal organs over the floor. Mabel was there only because of the boys. _I mean, why can't people enjoy a well written story with a good dose of suspense and adventure, and where the good guys use their brains to fix the problem, instead of taking off their shirts and eat everyone else around alive?!_

"So different from your scary B movie, which isn't scary."

"I guess it's only for men." Dipper stated and moved on his seat to look taller and manly. Then he stared down, between him and Mabel. "You know, like me and the little guy here." He said. Mabel took a peak at the tiny monstrosity that Dipper had baptized as The Candy Monster, and that ended up watching the whole movie with them after making the twins chase it all over the shack.

"You're calling that thing a man?"

"Well I don't think it's a girl, but I haven't seen if he has a..."

"Dipper! I mean 'he' isn't even human."

"Well at least 'he' liked the movie as much as I did. Plus, he didn't freak out at the most intense parts."

"Yeah, he's a cute little deformed naked man and you're a big dork without chest hair. You both are so manly."

Dipper frowned and looked at the monster, which was still kind of hypnotized by some random movie promos on the TV.

"What is it anyway?" Mabel asked "Doesn't your book say anything about it?"

"I was just thinking about the same thing." Dipper said, opening his journal and starting to search throughout the pages. Unfortunately, he didn't find anything that looked like the Candy Monster. However, a certain page caught his eye.

"Wait a minute, this looks very similar to that Summerween Trickster!" There was indeed a page he hadn't seen before and it showed a picture of the monster that almost killed them the night before. "Oh man, how come I didn't see this before? In fact, how come I didn't even consult the journal last night? This would have been really helpful; it says here you can weaken the Trickster if you attack him with eggs and toilet paper."

"Let me see it!" Mabel said. She grabbed the book while Dipper still held it. They read more about the creature and Dipper felt more stupid.

"Well too bad Dip, but look at it this way: If we had known how to defeat him, we wouldn't have gone on an amazing trick or treating odyssey together." Mabel said.

Dipper gave her a look, but then smiled. "I guess you're right. I actually had fun last night with you and the gang. Again, sorry for almost blowing it and getting us all eaten"

"It's okay Dipping Sauce." Mabel said, poking his nose "Good thing Soos was there to save the day."

"Yeah, I still can't believe he actually ate all that loser candy. No wonder why he was having some serious stomach ache this morning."

"I'm sure he'd be fine." Mabel said as she turned the TV off. "Speaking of candy, our little friend here seemed to be really crazy about it earlier. Maybe he has something to do with all the Summerween madness."

"It's possible, considering how he didn't let go our Jack O' Melon. But, then why we didn't see him last night?"

They both looked down at the critter which looked like it was staring at nothing. "Is that true little dude? Maybe he's your family." Mabel showed the page with the figure of the Trickster to the monster and pointed at it.

"Mabel, I don't think they were related..."

He was cut by a loud shout coming from the monster, which jumped to the floor and started to smell all over it."

"Dipper, I think he's hungry."

"Did you see it? I think he was scared of the picture."

"I'm sorry pal, we don't have any more golf clubs left." Mabel joined the creature on the floor. "Maybe he got a stomach ache."

The thing just kept searching on the floor and lifting empty candy envelopes. It finally reached for the Jack O' Melon and found it empty as well.

"He's looking for something. He started to look for it just when he saw the Trickster's image." Dipper said, trying to figure out what was happening.

"You think he wants to eat him too? He definitely wants some candy."

The Candy Monster started to make strange noises. "Ok, it's starting to scare me now." Mabel said. The monster came towards her and suddenly grabbed her night gown and started to pull while looking at her in the eyes. "Ok, now I'm officially freaked out!"

"What do you want? The Summerween Trickster is gone, and we almost ran out of candy by now." Dipper said to the monster. Obviously, it was trying to communicate with them by moving its hands on the air.

"Do you need some anti acid pills?" Mabel joined the conversation.

"We can't get what you want unless you say it, is there any way you can give us a clue?" Dipper asked the creature, which stopped moving for a moment, like if it was thinking on something, and then started to jump with a desperate look on its face.

"Oh, I know!" Mabel said. "He just ate too much golf clubs and needs to go. Do you know how to use the toilet little fella?"

The monster completely stopped jumping and Dipper could've sworn it gave Mabel a "Seriously?" look. Then the creature actually sighed and out of nowhere took out something that looked like a tongue.

"It's some of that tongue shaped acid gum candy, 'Gummy Tonguies'. They are pretty good." Mabel said. Then the monster spilled some white powder on the tongue, again taking it out of nowhere.

Mabel's smile faded. "Unless you spill salt on it."

The monster put the gummy tongue on its own tongue and swallowed it. Then it opened its mouth. Only this time, something different from shrieks came out of it.

"Loser Candy! Where is all the Loser Candy?!"


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

Dipper and Mabel dropped their jaws.

"Where did you put it kids? Show me at once!" The monster said again in a very close to human voice.

"Y-you knew about the loser candy?" Mabel asked, still a little shocked.

"Of course. The Summerween Trickster was defeated at last, and I'm here to clean the mess of what remains of him."

"Interesting" Dipper said, putting a finger on his chin. "I knew there had to be a reason for you to be here besides eating all our candy." He just had an idea. "Hey Mabel, maybe we can add something else to anomaly #76. In fact... " He grabbed his video camera and pointed it to the monster. "This is gonna be some awesome material!"

"So, what did you say you were doing here? Speak loud and clear please." Mabel said, assuming the role of the reporter.

"Uh, I just need to find the candy that formed the body of the Summerween Trickster, as I have already told you."

"And what exactly do you need it for, Mr. Monster?"

"Look, you don't really need to know it. Gosh! What is wrong with you kids? Normally people run when they see one of us, or at least they start screaming."

"Oh well, it's not like you're the first strange creature we've come across in Gravity Falls. Right Dipper?"

"Yeah, I'd say we have enough experience with this stuff. Anyways, you don't need to worry about the candy." Dipper said behind the camera. "We already took care of it."

"No, you don't understand. I need to collect every single piece of candy from the Trickster's disintegrated body right away. So, come on, where are you keeping it? There was none left on that store, so you must have it."

"We don't have it with us." Mabel said.

"What?! Did you throw it away? I hope you didn't eat some of it because it'll give you a really bad stomach ache."

"Well, our friend Soos was the one who ate it and he actually got sick, but that would've happen to anyone who eats that amount of candy." Dipper said.

"Wait, how much did your friend eat?"

"He cleaned the entire Summerween store with his mouth. So I guess there's nothing left for you. Sorry little pal." Said Mabel.

"Oh no! This is bad. This is really bad! Where exactly is your friend now?" The little guy looked kind of panicked.

"I think he's upstairs in the attic." Dipper said with a concerned face.

"What is he doing there?" Mabel asked.

"He offered to clean up the mess from last night's Horror Sleepover, remember? He also wanted to retrieve his special story telling flashlight, which he lost there." He turned again to the Candy Monster. "What exactly is going on?"

"Ok, we… we… we need to abandon this house immediately. Is there anyone else here with you besides your friend?"

"Wow, hold on. What's gonna happen to Soos?" Dipper asked. He stopped looking through the camera.

"No time for explaining now, if you two appreciate your lives, you come with me now."

"Hey, we are not abandoning Soos if he's in trouble!" Mabel said loudly to the monster.

"Yeah!" Dipper said putting his foot down, but feeling it wasn't a really good idea to stay. "You... you tell us now what's wrong with Soos and how we can help him!"

"You are not listening. There's probably nothing we can do for him! You should be more worry about what he can do to you now!"

Dipper just froze. Suddenly Mabel left the living room and rushed up the stairs.

"Soos! Soos where are you?!" She screamed.

"Get back here kid! You don't know what you are facing!"

Dipper looked at the stairs, fear starting to invade him at this point. He noticed he was holding the video camera very tightly. He turned it off, looked at the stairs again, and then to the monster in its eyes.

"Oh, no. Don't be a..." The Candy Monster tried to speak but Dipper just ran to follow his sister to the second floor. "...fool. You foolish children."

...  
...

"Soos, are you in there?" Mabel yelled as she got to the bedroom's door in the attic. No response was heard. She was about to enter when Dipper's hand stopped her.

"Mabel, wait! That's not a good idea."

"Why? Soos is probably sick again because of that candy."

"No, Mabel, it could be dangerous. You heard the little guy."

"I would also listen to me." The mentioned creature said as appearing from downstairs. "We just need to flee right now."

"Heck no shorty! We have to see if he's alright!"

A sudden flash of light, a strange greenish light, appeared under the door and the shack seemed to vibrate for a second.

"What is that?!" Dipper asked.

"Oh man, that is the sign that the transformation is complete, and also that we must totally get our butts out of here!"

"You get your chubby butt out if you want! We are going in!"

"Mabel, just calm down! Dipper put both hands on his sister's shoulders, and then addressed the monster. "You said he could hurt us. Is he really dangerous?"

"No he's not. He is extremely dangerous now. The guy you call Soos is no longer in there, and if you let your sister enter that room, you may lose her too."

Dipper pondered these words. He cared for Soos, a lot. But if what this creature was saying was true, he wasn't going to risk Mabel's safety. She was more important to him than anyone else. He looked at his twin and spoke with determination.

"Mabel, I'm sorry, but you can't enter the room."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I am not letting you go through that door. It's too risky. We are gonna wake up Grunkle Stan and leave this place right now."

Mabel couldn't believe her ears. "You want to leave Soos on his own when he needs us more? Well I am the one who is sorry because you can't stop me from..."

Mabel wasn't able to finish because Dipper embraced her very hard. "Forgive me for this, sis." He said.

"What?!" Again she was taken off guard when Dipper made a quick move and lifted her up, placing her over his shoulders.

"Dipper what the heck!... Wait, how can you even lift me up?"

Dipper ignored her and looked at the Candy Monster. "Let's go now." He said to it. The thing nodded and followed him. Mabel was struggling for freedom, but to her surprise, Dipper's grip was strong and he didn't seem to have any trouble carrying her through the attic.

They went down the stairs and got to the staircase entryway.

"You put me down dork! We need to save Soos!"

"We'll find a way to help him when we are out of danger."

"Wow, what danger dudes?"

The kids and the monster stopped and turned around to see Soos standing at the door that led to the hallway. He was definitely coming from somewhere else than the attic.

"Soos!" The twins yelled.

Mabel moved again on Dipper's shoulders and this time he realized his body was running out of strength. His legs started to shake and he collapsed. Mabel got up and ran towards the confused handyman. She jumped to his neck and hugged him deeply. Dipper also got up and tried to recover from the effort. He just let out a sigh and felt the joy of having found out his friend wasn't hurt and neither was trying to hurt him and his sister.

"Uh... I'm glad to see you too?" Soos said even more confused.

"You are fine!" Mabel said, jumping to the floor.

"Of course, I'm cool. I just went to the bathroom for a while. Is everything right? I heard screaming."

"Yeah, everything's fine now that 'everybody' can see there's no danger at all." Mabel sent her brother an angry look.

"Don't look at me that way! You saw the shining. It could've been true!"

"Well it wasn't. You should trust your older sister more Dipper, instead of listening to strangers, especially if they are monsters."

"Well I was... just... Oh Fine! What was all that with the lights and shaking a moment ago?" Dipper asked the monster.

"I... uh... I am not sure. But we should definitely examine the room."

"Woah dude! Is that a shaved bear cub?" Soos asked.

"It's just another random monster we found. And it just gave us a big scare for nothing." Mabel explained.

"Oh cool. What's up dude?"

"Wait a minute. Didn't you say it was dangerous to enter the room?" Dipper asked the monster.

"I did, but it's clear that the transformation wasn't achieved and he's still himself. However, there's something going on in that room and I have to fix it." Candy Monster started to climb the stairs. He stopped and looked at Dipper and Mabel. "Maybe you should still leave the house and keep your friend under observation."

"What? Why? What's wrong with me?"

"Soos, have you been feeling sick lately?" Dipper asked.

"Not really since this morning, but that stomach ache is old story and I'm feeling totally fine. In fact, I'm a little hungry now. How about some post-Summerween candy? I found some from our last night's horror session. Plus, there's also some from that Trickster dude."

Dipper and Candy Monster exchanged looks.

"That's it!" The creature said. "He didn't eat all! That's why he didn't change! I need to find that candy now!"

Dipper, Mabel and Soos saw the monster run upstairs as fast as his tiny legs allowed him. They stayed on the same place, not moving and not sure about what to do. That was until Mabel spoke.

"Let's go!"

She also ran upstairs and was followed by Soos.

"What?! Mabel!... G-guys! We should... " Dipper tried to talk to them, but they were already on the second floor.

He sighed deeply before following them.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

"Hey! Wait for us." Mabel called the creature, who was about to open the door.

"I told you to stay away from here." The monster answered.

"Well, it's not like we are just going to stay out and wait!" Mabel said.

"That's exactly what you are supposed to do." The monster said.

"I don't know, Mabel." Soos told her. "Maybe it's…you know, monster's business."

Dipper joined them. "I think Soos could be right, Mabel."

"What? Oh, come on, Dipper. Don't tell me you're not at least a little curious about what's behind that door." Mabel turned to the monster. "Besides, it's our house and our bedroom. We kind of have the right to see what's going on in there. Right Dipper?"

Dipper wanted to leave the house the moment the monster told them they were in danger because of Soos. But as Mabel had said, there was a part of him who wanted to stay and see what was behind the door. Since nothing was wrong with Soos, the fear he felt before had decreased.

"Well, I guess so..." He said. "We should probably find out what's the cause of all this once and for all. But Mabel, we must be caref…"

"I totally agree with you, Dip!" Mabel yelled and turned the doorknob. The door opened slowly.

The monster rolled his eyes. "Kids these days." He said. "Just don't give me any trouble, okay?"

The twins followed the monster inside their bedroom. Nothing seemed to be out of order, except for the mess that covered the floor, which Soos was supposed to clean. However, Dipper was having a bad feeling about the events of this night.

"Come on little bro." Mabel elbowed him. "Let's catch whatever paranormal thing is hiding in our room. You know, for science!"

Dipper gave her a little smile and recovered part of his confidence. He remembered the video camera, which was hanging from his neck. "Ok, here we go." He said, turning the device on. "Ok guys, welcome back to Dipper's Guide to the Unexplained #76. Tonight we're having a special extended episode, as the creature we found turned to be more than a candy eating monster." He spoke to the camera pointing it to him. "It's about twenty minutes past midnight and we have just entered the attic to try and find the cause of all the weird stuff that has been happening, which could easily be candy." He turned the camera around to focus on the room and zoomed in and out on different spots.

Soos stood at the door. "Uh, dudes, I think it's not a good idea. I never finished cleaning." He stepped into the bedroom, but as soon as he placed his feet on the wooden floor, a strange vibration hit his body. "Woah... never mind, no one really cares about what I do anyway." Mabel turned around to face Soos.

"Where did you say the candy was?" Dipper asked.

"Uh, It's on the... I mean it's on the Jack O' Melon, which is somewhere in this mess." _Dude, why did I just say that? It's actually on..._

"Soos, what did you just say about no one caring?" Mabel asked him, wondering if she had heard wrong.

"Uh... it was nothing." He said. _That was actually kind of unfair for them._ He thought. _And not very polite from you dude._ Hesaid to himself as he walked into the attic.

Dipper and the monster were searching all over the place for the Jack O' Melon. Soos watched them. _Better tell them that... __**As if they deserve so much politeness from you.**_A voice said in his mind. "What?" Soos said.

"You said something Soos?" Mabel just stared at him with worry.

"I uh, I think I'm just really hungry Hambone, that's all." _**You sure are.**_

"Found it!" The monster said as he emptied the green container on the floor and a lot of candy covered it. "Let's find that loser candy!" Dipper placed the camera on top of his bed so it could register on tape everything that was happening.

_**They won't find it there, nice job Soos.**_ The voice again spoke. _Wait, who are you dude and what are you doing in my head?_ _**Come on, you don't recognize me?**_ _I don't think so_.

Mabel was in front of Soos, but he didn't even notice her. To Mabel, it looked like he was searching for something in the attic's ceiling very carefully.

_**I am the deepest voice of yourself, which you always ignore when others mess with you. You see, I'm the side of you that wants to fight when all you do is remaining in silence.**_ ..._Dude, I didn't know I could be so deep._

"There's only good candy here!" Dipper said lifting the last pieces of candy. "Some are even very expensive."

"Guys!" Mabel said to Dipper and his little friend.

"What?"

"I think something wrong is happening with Soos." They saw him standing there like in some kind of trance.

_**But that's gonna be different now! You showed me an exit to the outer world and I'm ready to help you have some fun with these guys! Come on, let's find your real voice. Wouldn't you like that?**_ _I'm not too sure about it dude, that voice of yours sounds really creepy._

Soos hadn't noticed that Dipper and Mabel were shouting at him. "Soos! Soos! Wake up!" He couldn't even hear them. His eyes started to show a glow…a greenish glow.

"Oh no! It's happening, it's actually happening!" Cried the monster.

"_**You have been always disrespected and you cannot forget it…we cannot forget! Right Soos? **__Sure we can, and besides, it's not that bad. I mean, sometimes Mr. Pines is really demanding and the little dudes abandon me with all the work undone in the shack, but that's just them. Nothing I can't handle. It also would be nice to have a better salary, but the Pines love me and that's as good as gold!_

"The last of the loser candy wasn't in the Jack O' Melon. He was just distracting us!" The monster said.

_**Yes, Mr. Pines. He should have treated you better than that, and now it's time for some payback!**_ _Okay, amigo, that's way too much creepy. I couldn't be that rude to him._ _**But I can. I have already started it.**_

On top of an old arcade machine, an unnoticed little Summerween decorated bowl started to emit green flashes.

_**We deserve a little fun, and I can make it possible, with your help. Now I have the power. I can do it Soos, a piece of candy!**_

"The rest of that cursed candy is somewhere in this room. We must find it!" Dipper told everyone. The candy on the floor was suddenly surrounded by a green aura. Many other spots on the attic were illuminated as well with the same ghostly shining.

"He's trying to confuse us again... Quick! Grab anything that shines!" Candy Monster yelled.

"Many of those are probably decoys. We'll never find it on time!"

"It's the only way." Said the monster. "He controls the candy. So the loser candy has to be one of them. Hurry up!"

With that said, the trio run to every place that was shining. There was a piece of candy on each spot but none of them was loser candy.

_No! I don't want you to do it! Just get out of my head now!_ _**Fine! You leave me no choice. It's also my head, and I've been here for a long time. I'll just do it by myself. And since you are not really interested, maybe you should just go take a nap. There's only one last thing I need you to do...I've been really looking forward to get some loser candy. **__What do you mean with one last...;..:...,"...:..;.'...:..,.'.."...Woooooow, you are right. I'd love to have some_ "Loser Candy!"

This time, Soos spoke loudly and everyone turned to him. "He's going for it. We must stop him!" The monster and Dipper ran towards Soos and tried to hold him still as he started to walk slowly. "Loooooser Caaaaandy!" Soos said like a zombie.

Just then, Mabel noticed the shining Summerween bowl over the arcade machine. She approached to it and saw its content.

"Hey Dipper, is this what I think it is?" She asked as she held in her hand a darkish mass of a strange material, which had the shape of a…human heart?

"The Trickster's heart!" The monster yelled in panic. "That's the last piece of loser candy. If he eats it, there's no coming back!"

Dipper saw in astonishment as the entire room started to tremble and all the candy just floated in the air. Then he got it.

"Mabel! Give me that thing! Everyone, get the heck out of h.. Ahhhhh!"

The video camera on top of Dipper's bed was still on, and it recorded how he was pushed hard to a wall by an invisible force. He saw as the Candy Monster was thrown away and landed between some boxes. Mabel started to float in the air and got to the ceiling. Looking down, Dipper discovered it wasn't an invisible force the one that was doing this after all. He was being held against the wall by…candy? His wrists and ankles were covered in what seemed to be a combination of chocolate and chewing gum. He even saw a lollipop stick there. The disgusting candy was surrounded by that strange glowing. Dipper was completely adhered to the wall and wasn't able to free himself. He saw that Mabel and the monster were on the same situation. Only Soos remained on his place.

"Dipper! I'm gonna fell down!" Mabel shouted from her elevated position.

"I'm pretty sure you're not, he has us where he wants." Monster Candy said, stuck to the floor.

Soos walked to the center of the bedroom. "Look!" Mabel said. Next to Soos, the heart of the Trickster was levitating.

"Soos! Don't you dare to eat that!" Dipper yelled at him. The shaking and glowing were increasing dramatically.

Soos blinked and faced Dipper. "Uh... sorry dude, it's been a strange night and I need something to distract my mind. Besides, I've been saving it for a moment like this."

They all saw how Soos opened his mouth and the cursed loser candy got into it. He chewed it for some time and then swallowed it.

"That's it! Nothing we can do now! The powerful forces of evil will be unleashed! I warned you kids! I warned you!" Candy Monster just let out all that. Dipper and Mabel exchanged panicked looks and then stared at Soos.

Soos stood there for a second with nothing happening. Then he said: "Well, that wasn't as good as I thought it would be. A little too acid for my tast.. woooooow... Duuuuuuuuuuuuuude!

A powerful shining coming from Soos blinded everybody for a couple of seconds and then it disappeared. At that point, the room stopped shaking. When it was possible to see again, Soos was standing in the same position, surrounded by a greenish glowing.

"I... I... I uh... I think I'm just gonna take a little nap." Soos mumbled.

And with that, he just fell down to the floor loudly.

"Soos!" The twins yelled.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

The glowing in the twins' room was still present, but here and there pieces of candy were landing on the ground slowly. Once they were down, the glowing disappeared from them.

"Soos! Soos!" Mabel called from the ceiling.

Dipper was looking at Soos from the wall, trying to see if his friend was still on this world.

"Dipper, is he breathing? Can you see if..."

"Mabel shhh! I think I hear something."

They all listened carefully and heard a soft sound coming from Soos. They quickly recognized what it was.

"Is he... snoring?" The candy monster asked.

"Oh Soos." Mabel said with a smile. "I guess he actually meant it when he said he was taking a nap."

In that moment, all glowing in the room completely vanished. This included the glowing around the candy that held the kids and the monster prisoners. Dipper suddenly fell to the ground, as the candy around his wrists and ankles broke in pieces. Seeing this, the Candy Monster made an extra effort and released himself from the sticky matter.

Dipper got on his feet and tried to clean his clothes. Just then, he remembered something. He looked up and saw the candy around Mabel's body was cracking. "Mabel!"

"Uh-oh" Mabel said just before the candy broke, and she fell down.

Dipper ran with his arms extended in front of him, and got below Mabel the moment she was about to meet the floor. She landed on him, hard.

"Owwww man!" Dipper said from below Mabel.

"Oh my gosh Dipper! Are you okay?"

"Yeah…I think so." He said narrowing his eyes because of the pain.

"Well, thanks for catching me! Haha!...I guess."

"I'm starting to hate candy." He said as his sister helped him up.

The trio gathered around Soos. "What happens now?" Dipper asked the monster.

"I really don't know." He said. "And I certainly don't want to stay to find out." The candy monster turned around to leave the room.

Mabel grabbed the monster's shoulder. "No wait! We have to do something. I mean, we can't just leave Soos lying here after what happened."

"Oh, this again." He said in an annoyed voice. "Listen to me you little girl. We are lucky to be in one piece. I told you both this was dangerous and you ignored my advice. Now, for some reason, this didn't end badly. However, I'm not going to take that risk again. You don't know what this is all about. We can't do anything. This time I really mean it: We have to leave the house while there's still some time!" He took a few steps and turned back, like waiting for the twins to follow him. "As you wish." He got out of the room.

"You don't seem to know what's going on either." Dipper yelled at him.

The monster stopped. "What?"

"You didn't know about the Trickster's heart until we all saw it. And now it's obvious you don't know what will happen with Soos when he wakes up. In fact, I'd say you have never seen anything like this before. Am I right?" Dipper took a step towards the monster in a menacing way.

"W-well, that's not…" The monster was getting nervous and Dipper smiled. "Ok, some of that could possibly be true. So what kid?!"

"So, just because you don't know a way to change Soos back to normal, it doesn't mean there's no way to do it."

"Yeah! Well said Dipper!" Mabel joined her brother.

"Thanks, Mabel."

"Now you'll have to help us get whatever is inside Soos out from him." Mabel said smiling.

"Children, listen to me." The monster said entering the room.

"No, you listen to me!" Dipper said loudly. "I'm tired of you saying that we have to escape and that we don't know what we're facing. You're gonna tell us now everything about that candy, so we can help our friend!"

"No way! I'm outta here!" He said and ran to the door.

"Mabel, stop him!"

Mabel ran too and blocked the door. The monster looked at the window, but Dipper grabbed him and lifted him up.

"Ahhh! Let me go!"

"Not until you speak!"

"Well, what if I refuse to speak?"

Dipper thought for a second. Then he smiled. "Mabel, I think our little friend would love to see what you can do with a bunch of gummy worms."

"Oh! And I'd be glad to show him!" The twins grinned evilly. Mabel ran to her side of the room, and came back with a back of gummy worms.

"Now Mabel will attempt to break the gummy worms nose sticking world record!" She announced.

"What?!" The monster yelled.

Mabel started to stick the worms into her nose, one by one, with little difficulty, as she laughed. "Oh! It tickles! Hahahahaha!"

"Oh man! That's like the grossest thing I've ever seen!" The monster said, closing his eyes, and forcing in Dipper's hands."

"You haven't seen anything yet." Dipper told him. "Mabel, he would like to try."

Candy Monster's eyes grew really wide.

"Ok, little buddy!" Mabel got the gummy worms out of her nose. They were covered in a not so good looking substance. "Oh, they're a little sticky…I guess I'm having a little summer cold."

"Oh, come on!" The monster cried.

"You're gonna love this!" She said as she took one of the gummy worms near the monster's nose.

"You wouldn't dare!" The monster said with fear on his face.

"Oh, she's really good at it." Dipper told him. "I know from personal experience." The monster was officially panicked for the nth time on the night.

"Into your nose! Into your nose!" Mabel shouted.

"No guys! Nooooooooooooo!"

Mabel stuck one gummy worm into the monster's nose and he just trembled on Dipper's hands.

"No!...Oh!... Aghhhhh!...gross…darn…ohhhh….oh …ohh…Okay! You win! I'll talk!" He said on a nasal sounding voice.

"That's enough Mabel." Dipper said.

"Oh really? He doesn't look too convinced about staying."

"I don't think he's going anywhere. Besides, this is getting really disturbing."

"Oh, come on. You actually kind of liked it the last time." Mabel told him, as she removed the gummy worm from the monster.

Dipper felt a shiver down his spine, but got over it quickly. He put the traumatized monster on the floor. The creature took a few minutes to recover himself from the experience. _Something to tell the grandchildren._ He thought. Then, he faced the twins.

"Wait, there's one little thing missing." Dipper said and walked to his bed for the camera, while Mabel kept an eye on the monster. "It doesn't work. That weird shining must've damaged the batteries." He looked for some new batteries on his backpack and placed them on the camera. He turned it on and it worked normally.

"Well, we're back on the case." Dipper spoke to the camera and then pointed it to the monster. "Now, you were saying?

Candy Monster sighed. "There's definitely something wrong with you kids." He said. "Okay. First of all, you were right. I'm not exactly an expert on the field. I only came here because I was the only one of my kind that was available at the time."

"Your kind?"

"Yes. You see, I was the only one who could dispose the corrupted candy from the Trickster's body by eating it."

"You were gonna eat that?" Dipper asked. "Wouldn't that be bad for you?"

"Not at all. I'm part of a selected group that has this rare capacity. I would've ingested the candy and separated it from the evil component that corrupted it. Then, I would've taken that component home to properly take care of it."

The twins listened carefully to the monster as he revealed them incredible, yet weird, information.

"The only problem is" He continued. "That this is actually my first mission. There was no one else available, and I was the last minute option. It's just that we couldn't let more time pass without retrieving the candy. Otherwise, they would've sent an expert. But they sent me. It was supposed to be something quick and easy. The last thing we thought was that this would happen. I was supposed to eat the candy! Only that!" The monster yelled.

"So…that's why you were trying to eat our left over Summerween candy." Mabel said.

"Yes, I assumed it came from the Trickster's body since I followed the trace from the store, and I was trying to eat it all. That is, until I got hypnotized by that movie. Man I was so stupid!" He hit his head. "Common mistake of an inexperienced guy! I was always told not to watch directly to those shiny screens."

Dipper watched as the monster continued regretting. "Then what's inside that candy that makes it so evil?" He asked.

The monster stropped, and faced him with a serious look. "One of the most dangerous and destructive forces that exists."

"And what is that?" The twins asked at the same time.

Candy monster spoke slowly. "Emotional issues."

The twins looked at each other confused. "Emotional…" Dipper repeated. "You're kidding right?"

"Why would I be? Emotional issues are not something to joke about. You saw what they did to that loser candy. It was transformed into a real monster. You don't think that's dangerous?"

"Well" Dipper said. "I just can't believe some boring candy suddenly felt bad enough to became alive and try to eat people."

"It wasn't the candy exactly who tried to eat you. We're talking about an evil power that has wandered Earth for a long time. When it took control of the candy, it exploited the worst of it to cause as much damage as possible."

"Wow. And you think that's gonna happen to Soos?" Mabel asked.

"No one knows exactly what would be the consequences if a human ate the Trickster's body. But we are almost sure the same evil force would be released. That's why we were supposed to put the candy out of your reach."

"Well, I wouldn't worry too much." Mabel said. "I mean, what emotional issues could anyone so nice like Soos have?"

"It doesn't matter what kind of person he is!" The monster said. "That evil power may take total control of him!"

Dipper was trying to analyze all the information. He came up with an important question. "Well, that's just great. Now, how can we stop him? You're not gonna eat him right?"

"Of course not! But, as I said, I wasn't prepared for something like this. I really don't know how to solve it."

"That's all I wanted to hear!"

The voice that interrupted them came from behind, where Soos was lying on the floor. However, it didn't sound like Soos. They turned around slowly and saw the handyman on his feet, with a disturbing smile on his face.

"Boo!" He said.

The candy monster jumped on his place with fear.

"Hahahahaha! And I thought you could represent a threat!"

Nothing was different in Soos, except for an insignificant detail. His voice had completely changed, sounding very different.

"Soos, is it really you?" Mabel asked.

Soos paid attention to the twins. "Come on, you don't recognize your old friend, little 'dudes'?" He emphasized the last word.

Dipper suddenly had a bad feeling. This wasn't the Soos he knew. At least, he wasn't acting in the same way.

"Oh, still nothing? Well, how about this?!" Soos jumped in the air and there he stayed. Floating over the floor with his arms extended. Dipper and Mabel couldn't believe their eyes. Neither could they pronounce a word.

"Nope, that's nothing like what the old Soos would do, is it?" He said. "Well, guess who's on the drivers' seat now? That's right…Me!" He said pointing to himself.

Dipper finally was able to speak. "You…are not r-really you…who are you?"

"I told you! He's not there anymore! It's just emotional issues!" Candy monster yelled.

"Ah, that's a very good observation little buddy! But it's not so accurate. Yes, your friend needed to take a little rest and I was glad to help him with that. I'm the hidden side of him, the one that deals with his little misunderstandings with some individuals."

There was just this tone of…sadness in his voice, Dipper thought. His words flowed slightly slowly. As if when he spoke, he was begging for something.

"No way! Soos doesn't have any emotional issues! He gets along very well with everybody!" Mabel yelled.

Soos came closer to Mabel. "Oh, but some people don't know how to get along with him." He said in a low voice.

Dipper quickly got beside Mabel. "What do you want?"

"Oh, nothing big really. Just hang out with you for a while, go take some fresh air, get revenge on Stan for all he's done to me… That kind of stuff."

That voice. It reminded him of someone he had seen on TV. On a movie.

"Soos, that's not funny! You can't get revenge on Grunkle Stan!" Mabel said.

"Sure I can! I'm more skilled than old Soos. The candy's power is so amazing. And besides, this freak won't be able to stop me. Right? Mister Inexperienced." Soos looked at the candy monster's terrified eyes.

Was it possible? Dipper could swear he was speaking just like that masked guy from the Batman movie.

"You were listening to all I was saying?" The monster asked frightened.

"Of course! I just wanted to know if you would give me any trouble. Now I know I don't have to worry about that."

Now, Dipper knew it for sure. Soos sounded just like Bane.

"Well, we won't let you do something crazy to Grunkle Stan, Soos!" Dipper yelled at him.

"That's really brave from you, smarty pants. You kids are lucky to be out of my payback list, but if you continue to be this annoying, I will have to settle down some issues with you too." Soos leaned closer to the twins with an evil grin. "Wouldn't you like that?"

Just then the monster jumped between Soos and the kids. "Stay back, you freak!" The monster held in his hand some little colorful things that looked like candy. He threw them to the floor. There was a little explosion and the entire room was filled with smoke. Everybody started to cough, including Soos. Dipper couldn't see anything and was having trouble to breath, but he felt a hand that grabbed his and led him through the door. There he saw it was the candy monster that had taken him and Mabel out of the room.

"What…just…happened?" Mabel asked breathing heavily.

"I had to create a distraction in order to escape. Luckily, it appears that his human body is still vulnerable. Now let's go!"

"What? No! He said he was going after Grunkle Stan! He's in danger!" Dipper said.

"Then he'll have to come with us too!"

A voice came from the room. "What?...Aghh…You..ahhg…You're leaving so soon?"

Dipper saw the green glowing coming out of his room as the smoke started to vanish. "Okay. To Stan's room, now! He said.

The monster nodded and placed on the floor another set of the strange candy. "Are those jellybeans?" Dipper asked.

"Yeah. The kind which 'explodes' in your mouth. We found out they could be very useful. They will buy us some more time." With that, they all rushed to Stan's room.

"Useless body!" Soos said as he came out of the room while coughing a little. "Never mind, my new powers will compensate for this!" He noticed the jellybeans on the floor. "What's this, kids? You try to buy me with candy?" There was another explosion, a little stronger this time, and the smoke filled the attic. "Ahhh, come on!"

The twins opened the door to Stan's bedroom. "Stan! No time to explain! Just come with us…?" Dipper stopped since his uncle wasn't in bed. "Where is he?"

"Duuudes! I'm coming for you!" They heard Soos' voice getting closer.

Dipper took a second to decide. "Quick! To the living room!"

They got downstairs and entered the small living room. "Grunkle Stan! Are you here?!" They shouted. They checked in the kitchen and the gift shop, but Stan was nowhere.

"Do you think he's in the museum?" Dipper asked his sister. "What would he be doing at the museum after midnight, Dipper?"

"Maybe he's already gone. We must leave too!" Candy monster said.

"He wouldn't abandon us that way. He's not that mean." Dipper answered.

"Dipper, watch out!" Mabel screamed. Behind Dipper, a light suddenly appeared in the door leading to the gift shop.

"Got you jerks!...Wait…kids?"

On the entrance to the living room was Grunkle Stan holding a flashlight that was too blinding.

"What are you doing up so late? I thought you were a bunch of thieves trying to steal my safe!"

"We've been looking for you. We have to leave the shack immediately!" Mabel said to her uncle. Then she looked behind him. "What were you doing in the gift shop anyway?"

Stan was caught off guard with that question. "I uh…I just…just…wanted something from the vending machine! Yeah! Something to eat! Because there's food in the vending machine! Nothing more! Hahaha!"

Dipper looked at him suspiciously. "Really? You sure that's the whol…. Wait! We have no time for this! We must go before Soos gets here!"

"Leave the shack? At this hour on the night? That's just crazy! Even for you, kid. And what is Soos coming to do anyway?"

"Grunkle Stan, Soos is not feeling like himself tonight and we better stay away from him for a while." Mabel told him.

"Well, if he has any complaints about the job, he can always quit. It can be arranged easily tomorrow, since I pay him almost nothing. Haha! But he won't be sleeping here tonight, if that's what he wants. There, problem solved. Now let's go get some sleep everybody."

The monster climbed to the couch and got near to Stan's face. "Listen to me! Your employee has been possessed by a powerful, bad attitude force that wishes only to manifest the worst of his emotions. Emotions he thinks you messed with. So, old dude, we need to go now if you want to keep your life safe!"

Stan looked at the creature with surprise on his face. "That was good kids. You almost convinced me with this prank of yours and Soos'. But Summerween is over. Now take this talking stuffed shaved bear back to the museum and yourselves back to bed!"

"Grunkle Stan! We're no joking! What he said is true. We have to leave and find a way to change Soos back to normal!" Mabel yelled. He grabbed her uncle's hand and pulled. "You just come with us now!"

"Way to go Mabel!" Dipper said as he got behind Stan and pushed him.

"Wha…What are you doing kids? Let go now!" He yelled angrily, but they managed to take him to the porch door. Dipper grabbed the doorknob. "We'll come back for you Soos." He said looking at the stairs.

But when he turned the doorknob, the door didn't open. Instead, it glowed. A green light came from it.

"Oh boy" Dipper said.

The green light extended to the furniture in the living room. The old television set lifted, as well as the couch, the table and the chairs. They all remained suspended in the air.

"Don't you dare to leave this house with my special guest!" Soos' voice echoed in all the room.

"Who the heck is that?" Stan asked.

"Let's exit through the gift shop!" Mabel yelled. The moment she finished speaking, what looked like some big indigenous stone-made disc flew through the air and crashed into the outside door of the gift shop, blocking it.

"There's only the hallway left! Come on!" Dipper yelled, and they ran to the staircase entryway.

"Hold on there, dudes!"

Soos descended finally from upstairs, and stood just at the entrance to the living room. "You don't want to take that way, believe me." He snapped his fingers and a loud noise was heard from the kitchen behind him. Suddenly, the whole collection of objects from the kitchen appeared behind Soos and stacked in the staircase entryway. Then the pile ignited on green fire.

"That's all right. It won't burn anything. Unless you try to pass through it." Soos said smiling.

"Soos? Have you gone crazy? You are going to cause some real damage on the shack! Stop right now!" Yelled Stan.

"Oh, hi boss! I see you decided to stay. I've prepared something really special for you after all!" Soos jumped again in the air and he was surrounded by the green aura.

"Wow! How do you do that? Are you using hidden cords and light effects?" Stan asked. "Look if you calm down, I could hire you back and maybe you can perform your little act for the tourists! Credit will go to you, but we'll share the profit. Let's say 70-30…."

"Oh shut up already, old fossil!" Soos shouted with his eyes glowing. "It's no surprise to me that you're trying again to scam me. How about if I clarify things for you?" He pointed his finger to Stan, who instantly left the floor and started to spin in the air.

"Whoa whoa whoaaaa!" He screamed. Soos then pointed to the ground and Stan hit the floor hard. His fez fell from his head.

"Okay, okay. Those are not strings at all." Stan said.

Dipper was furiously trying to think in a way to escape from there. The only remaining exit was being blocked by Soos. He thought of his journal, but there was no time to search for some supernatural weapon at the moment. If only they could find a place to hide. He looked at the gift shop. Maybe they could break the windows somehow. He saw something on the floor of the shop. Something that was below the old rug, which had been lifted a little when the giant stone passed over it. Was that…a door?

"What do you want from me?" Stan asked getting on his feet.

Grunkle Stan's fez floated to Soos and he placed it on his head, after removing his cap. "Oh, you'll find out soon. From now on, I'm the new boss guys!"

"Never! You'll make a terrible boss, Soos!" Mabel yelled.

"Oh, I thought you said I was a nice person."

"That was before! Now you are being a big jerk!"

"Oh, am I?!" Soos yelled to Mabel.

"Yeah Soos! Don't you dare to mess with her!" Dipper said.

"Well, well. The big brother thinks he can threaten me? Maybe you're just too brave because you think you have an advantage with that book of yours. Well, time to eliminate the next possible obstacle to my plan." He extended his arm to Dipper and then opened his hand. The journal came out from Dipper's vest and into Soos' hand.

"W-what?!" Dipper shouted.

"You wouldn't mind if I borrow it for while, would you?"

"Give me that!"

Grunkle Stan was lifted again in the air. He was just staring at the book Soos had on his hands. "I just need it to prepare your uncle's special present." Soos said. "You'll have it back when I finish it, and him."

"I'll finish your face, Soos!" Mabel yelled, taking a step towards Soos. Everybody looked at her with wide eyes.

"Kid, shut up! You can't do anything about it!" The monster said.

"Dude, now that wasn't very nice from you." Soos said. "Stay quiet little Hambone or I'll…"

"Don't call me Hambone, you butthead!"

Soos' face changed to a frown. "Okay! Since you are also feeling brave, maybe you would like to join us!" Soos lifted Mabel in the air and she was turned upside down.

"Mabel!" Dipper yelled. "That's it Soos! You're going down!" Dipper charged towards Soos, but was stopped on his spot and also lifted.

"It seems that the entire Pines family will have a little reunion to talk about their feelings with Dr. Soos!" He took a look at the terrified candy monster. "And you! Get away from here before I decide to include you!" He moved his head, and candy monster was tossed violently to the other side of the living room. "Now Stan, it's time to get into…"

Soos was interrupted when something landed on his face and started to scratch it. "What the…ahhhhhhhh!"

A shout of pain was heard as the 'thing' bit his hair. Soos was blinded and lost his concentration, letting everybody and everything fall to the floor. Dipper and Mabel looked up and dropped their jaws as they saw Soos fighting in the air with a certain pig on top of his head. Mabel was the first to react.

"Woo-hoo! Waddles to the rescue! Get him tiger!"

A confused Soos floated around the room with no control. He finally fell to the floor behind the couch. Waddles came running to Mabel. "Waddles you saved us!" Mabel picked him up and hugged him deeply.

A load roar was heard. Soos stood up with eyes firing green flashes. The entire shack vibrated once again. Soos seemed to be out of his mind. The green light suddenly appeared in all the room and many objects went flying everywhere. Soos just stayed there, screaming, apparently not paying attention to the Pines. Dipper saw the chance.

"Everybody follow me!" He said as he crawled on all fours to avoid being hit by the flying furniture, and advanced to the gift shop. All of them imitated him. When they got there, Dipper took away the rug and revealed a small door on the floor. Without thinking what it was, he opened it and saw a hand ladder that leaded down. "Mabel you go first!" Mabel doubted a second but then held Waddles with only one hand and went down.

"Waaaaaaaaddles!" Soos yelled from the next room. "I thought we were good friends!"

In that moment, Grunkle Stan had a light-speed brainstorm of ideas. He zoned out for a second, but he knew exactly what he had to do. He looked at Dipper in the eyes. "Stay quiet and don't come out from there."

"What?" Dipper didn't have time to think since his uncle pushed them all to the door. Luckily, the fall was short. Stan quickly closed the door and placed the rug back over it. He then grabbed one of the ball number eight canes from a counter and hit the nearly windows with it. "Wait kids, you too, little monster. Are you really gonna leave your old Grunkle Stan on his own?!" He yelled loud enough so it could be heard in the living room.

Soos appeared immediately on the entrance. He saw Stan with the middle of his body out of the gift shop.

"Oh, irony." Soos said. "The same children you mistreated to benefit yourself have abandoned you Stan." He grabbed Stan and introduced him on the shack again. "It doesn't matter. As long as you stay, things are going as planned."

"Bite your tongue Soos! I'm pretty sure they'll come back with an elaborated plan to save their beloved Grunkle!" He shouted loudly. "Hahaha! And if they were listening to me now, I'd tell them to hurry up with that plan!"

Soos narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

Stan started to sweat. "T-that is, if they want to find some from you that I haven't beaten up!"

Soos smiled. "I see you still have a little of that good humor of yours, Stan." He said. "Well, I'm pretty sure they will try to rescue you. But they'll have to face the fact that they are no rivals to me. Let's hurry anyway, so I can take care of them. There's much to do before I can finally pay you back for all these awesome years of being your employee."

With that, Soos walked away and instantly Stan followed him, floating against his will.

"Hehe, payback? Uh, I'm sure a simple 'thank you' would be enough." He said nervously.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

The twins, Waddles, and the candy monster sat quietly on the cold metal floor of the underground compartment they had discovered minutes ago. It was a small room. The walls, roof and floor were covered with metal plates. It looked like Grunkle Stan used it as a secret storage room, since there were boxes on shelves and also two medium sized coolers on the floor. A quick look into one or two boxes revealed that they contained various kinds of packaged food. There were cans, jars, bottles, smaller cardboard boxes and plastic and paper bags. There were also some strange drinks and beverages they couldn't recognize. In fact, they realized that all this merchandise had come from other countries, because they identified Spanish, Russian, what they believed was Israeli but which indeed was Thai, and Arabic on some of the labels and even on handwriting. There were products labeled on English, but the kids had never heard of them. Mabel opened one of the coolers. It was full with ice bags, and she jumped scared when she found what looked like a turtle. _Probably some endangered species. _Dipper thought. _I'm pretty sure all this is contraband._

A small vent was attached to one of the walls. There was also a switch connected to a light bulb, but they didn't try to push it for the simple fact that they feared a tiny flash could reveal their position. The only light they were using was coming from Dipper's video camera, which he had been focused in for the last minutes, watching over and over the recorded scenes of what was by now the strangest night of their summer.

Dipper stopped the recording and placed the camera on the floor. It was still illuminating the room with a weak blue shining. Around it, the four individuals sat, like a group of campers around a campfire. Dipper couldn't believe he had been cautious enough to put the small box of batteries on his pocket when they were on the attic.

Mabel looked at her brother expectantly. He was staring at nothing. After a minute, he noticed her. "What?"

"Are we just gonna sit here without thinking on something to help Grunkle Stan?"

"Mabel, if you didn't notice, Soos took away the only thing that could've helped Grunkle Stan."

"Dipper, we still have to do something."

"Like what? I have no ideas at all. I watched that recording over and over, and didn't find anything we could use. And we can't defeat him only with smoke, or with Waddles. The journal was our last hope to get an advantage. Without it I can't…there's nothing we can do." Dipper said, looking away from Mabel.

"Don't tell me you are giving up." Mabel said. Dipper didn't answer.

Mabel frowned and got closer to Dipper. "No, bro bro. That's not the Dipper I know. The Dipper I know always finds a way to get him and me out of trouble."

Dipper didn't react. He was still looking at the floor. Mabel didn't quit. "And the Dipper I know doesn't stay quiet when his family is in trouble, even if it's really dangerous. He has a too much big head to find the danger signal on it."

Dipper let out a small laugh. Mabel knew she almost got him back. "And he certainly never gives up. Not even if he lost his old and ugly journal." With that, he turned his head to her slowly.

Mabel took his hand. "Come on Dip. I know you can take us out of this hole." She smiled at him.

"I believe he can." The candy monster said. He had been watching them from across the little room. "I mean, you've been really brave and smart tonight. If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be here now."

Dipper smiled and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and opened them. "Thank you guys. I was just feeling really bad a moment ago." He looked at his sister. "Mabel, I wouldn't be able to do all those things you said if it wasn't for you being there for me."

Mabel came closer to Dipper and poked his nose. "Anytime bro."

...  
...

Soos was standing on top of the stairs on the large floor room, which was full of mirrors. Behind him was the door to the hallway. He had been reading Dipper's journal for the last minutes. Now he looked up from the book and contemplated what Grunkle Stan had named the maze of mirrors. Stan had been relegated between them. He was free to move but didn't try to escape.

"You see this Stan? This is the most recent idea you stole from me and benefitted from."

"Come on kid, you loved it too. Maybe we can fix it somehow…We'll name it Grunkle Stan's Soos' Maze of Mirrors! How about that? You just take good care of the mirrors, they cost a little fortune."

"Silence!" Soos shouted. The impact of the sound cracked some of the mirrors and Stan didn't make a move.

"I guess we're not making business then." He said.

"Oh yes we are Stan. We came here because we'll need some of these mirrors. Let's say, one for each creature, including you." Soos said as he read again journal #3.

"Creatures? What exactly is this little project of yours about?"

"One that suits you perfectly. It will let you know how 'good' it feels to work for someone like you." Soos said without looking away from the book.

Grunkle Stan shook his head. "Please Soos. Why are you doing this? You never complain about the work…In fact, you always do your job happily, even when I give you the worst chores. I pay you almost nothing, but you come back every single day, and you don't request employee benefits like Wendy does. You wanting to get revenge on me for all that is…this isn't you at all kid."

Soos stopped reading to look at Stan. There was some surprise on his face. Then he blinked and recovered his evil look. "Of course I never complain! Soos never complains! He just does everything he is commanded, not caring if it's unfair or if it makes him look ridiculous! Complaining is my job, and that's why I'm here. But I will go far beyond from just complaining."

Stan was a little confused. "So, Soos doesn't complain, but you do. But you, Soos, you complain….am I getting it right?"

"I'm like a reflection of Soos! The same as him, but in an opposite way!"

"Opposite? So you are like 'Soos', but reversed. I guess that makes you….'Soos'?"

Soos smiled. "I believe you understand at least the basics."

"Oh yes, I understand." Stan said. "You are the jerk side of Soos."

The smile on Soos was replaced by a furious look.

"You know, you should be more like your counterpart." Stan continued. "That way people wouldn't be so tempted to kick your butt!"

Soos got really mad. "Shut your big mouth Stanford!" The roar of Soos finished breaking almost every single mirror in the room.

"Let's just get to work, Stan." Soos said with a disturbing voice.

...  
...

Dipper walked nervously on the little room. None of the ideas they had come up with were likely to work. Some of them were even impossible to put into practice. They had heard a loud sound from the other side of the shack, probably someone yelling furious.

"Ok, let's analyze this again." Dipper said. "Soos has been possessed by an evil force coming from some anomalous candy, which has awakened a very deep side of him that was annoyed for the way Stan treats him, and now it wants revenge on the old man." Everyone else nodded, despite this was the third time Dipper was describing the situation.

Dipper continued. "Now Soos has these powers, which I had to admit are pretty awesome, that make him virtually unstoppable. However, he seems to be limited by his human body. On the other hand, we have nothing to defend ourselves or to attack him effectively. We could alert the police but they wouldn't believe us, and even if they came here, we would probably have to rescue them from Soos. We could try to find some of the magical objects from the journal, but we would get lost in the woods without the book. And, our little friend here doesn't have any supernatural weapon to deal with this stuff."

Dipper looked at the monster, who lowered his face in shame. "On the bright side" He said. "Soos said he had much to do before he can carry out whatever he's planning. So that gives us some more time to think on something, right?"

Just as he finished speaking, a louder yell than the one they heard a while ago filled the shack. It was followed by a long sound of glass breaking.

"What was that?" The monster asked.

"I think that 'was' the Maze of Mirrors."

"Dip, we may not have that much time to think." Mabel said to her brother.

Dipper felt frustration taking over him. "Ahhhh!...There has to be a way!" He yelled.

Mabel was also starting to despair. She had suggested going and finding the shrinking crystals, but Dipper couldn't remember the exact spot where he had discovered them. She made a quick mental note. _Never again destroy magical objects that could be useful._

She looked at her brother. He was still walking in circles and talking unintelligible things to himself. "But if we…No…Soos….it's just…his person…..the candy…."

She pressed Waddles to her chest and the pig let out some funny noises. She then looked at the candy monster. He was as out of ideas as everyone. "So, do you have any more magical candy that can help us?" She asked.

"Not really. We could immobilize him for a while with this special chewing gum, or throw at him more exploding jelly beans. But that only gives us time…" The monster said showing the candy on his hands.

Mabel looked at it intrigued. "By the way, I was wondering, where do you get these from? You don't have a magical bag or anything."

"It's more like an interdimentional pocket on my body. It allows me to get things from a space far from here."

"Wow, that is so cool!" She said. "Wait! Can't you ask for help to your friends with it?"

"Unfortunately, I can't. The pocket is not designed to cover that much distance. Right now, I'm grabbing things from a hidden location near the mountains."

Mabel let out a sigh. For a moment she had seen some light of hope. She reclined on the metal wall. "Can't you put him back to sleep with a special sleeping powder?"

"Sleep?" Dipper asked. He turned to face Mabel and the monster.

"Yeah, he looked so inoffensive when he was taking his little nap on the attic." Mabel said to Dipper.

"Take a nap?" Apparently Dipper was talking to himself again.

The monster intervened. "He was just faking that. And, actually I ran out of that powder coming to this place. I found too many people in the streets. Anyway, I don't think it would've had any effect on him."

Mabel felt defeated. She closed her eyes. Now, she couldn't see any exit.

"That's actually a great idea Mabel!" Dipper suddenly said.

"What?" Mabel opened her eyes and looked at her brother.

"Making him sleep! I mean, not literally, but I think it's exactly how we can defeat him!"

"Would you mind explaining a little more?" The monster said.

"Okay, listen." He started. "When we were at the attic, Soos said he was going to take a 'little nap', and he fell asleep. Then, this other side of him said Soos needed to take a rest. As I understand it, 'our' Soos is in some kind of sleep mode. If only we could wake him up, he may be able to take control of himself and stop his dark counterpart, and send that Soos to sleep permanently!"

Mabel and the monster took some time to think on what Dipper had figured out, but it was actually very clear.

"So you're saying we have to find a way to wake him up? And that's all?" Mabel asked.

"That actually makes a lot of sense." The monster said. "But it won't be as easy as just shaking him."

"Yes, I was thinking that too. We need to give him a really strong stimulus in order to bring him back. So, my theory is…what if he ingested something that was really intense?"

"You mean that we have to make him eat something?" The monster asked.

"Yeah. After all, this started when he ate that candy."

"But, what exactly should we give him? And where are we gonna find something intense enough to wake him up?" Mabel asked.

"Just look around you, sis." Dipper said. "We have at hand some of the most exotic food and drinks from the entire world. There has to be something here we can use."

Without hesitation, Dipper turned around and started to open boxes. Mabel and the monster imitated him. They didn't know exactly what they were looking for, but as Dipper said, between all this collection of rare products there had to be something too tasty, or too disgusting, or maybe too unhealthy to blow someone's mind. They gathered some really curious things. On one of the coolers, they found a frozen Japanese blowfish, which was discarded because they decided not to risk Soos' life with a poisonous fish. There was a strange liquor from Central America, but it might take too much time before it had an effect. There was also a bad smelling European goat cheese, which looked promising, some Malaysian ultra black pepper, a jar of pickled turnips from Turkey, which smelt worst than the cheese, and many tiny bottles of oil extracted from different plants.

"Ahhh! This is dumb! What are we gonna do, invite him for dinner?" Mabel said, tired of opening cans.

"Come on Mabel, we have no other choice. Just keep searching." Dipper said, but he was also starting to reconsider this idea.

Candy Monster was not doing very well either. He had decided that a pot of African honeycomb juice was the best candidate. However, he was a bit angry with himself because of not being able to fight against this threat with nothing more than human weird food. It could be said that he had failed on his mission. If not everything was lost, it was because of these kids, who had proven to be braver and bolder than he had heard about humans, and more intelligent than him in a way. If only the improved candy he had brought with him was more powerful, then he could make a difference. Right now, he felt useless.

Something caught his eye. On the other side of the room, there was a very weak shining. It came from some plastic bottles in an almost hidden box that they hadn't bothered to check on since it was probably soda. The bottles had blue bottle caps….Wait….blue bottle caps?….soda?….could it be?!

"What is that?" He said, walking to the box and putting away some bags.

"What did you find there?" Dipper asked.

The monster grabbed one of the bottles. He saw the blue bottle caps and the characteristic yellow color of the soda he knew well.

"Oh man!" He said with joy in his voice. "Do you know what this is? This is exactly what we need!"

The twins looked carefully at the plastic bottle. "What? A bottle of yellow syrup?"

"No, no. This is 'Burbujas Doradas de los Incas'."

"What's that? Whatever language that is." Dipper said.

"It's in Spanish. And here it was known as 'Inca's Golden Bubbles Cola'. It's a popular soda from Peru. It has a ridiculously excessive amount of unhealthy ingredients. That's why it's banned here and even in some parts of Europe."

Mabel took the bottle and opened it. She smelt the interior. "So it's like a very bad soda?"

"On the contrary, it's really good. Unfortunately, that great flavor comes mainly from those dangerous ingredients. It's said they can cause epileptic seizures and even genetic mutations."

Dipper heard a sound and turned his head. Mabel had just taken a big gulp of the soda.

"Mabel, don't drink that thing!" Dipper said alarmed.

"Sweet! It tastes like bubblegum!" She said.

"It's okay. You would have to drink it daily to get one of those harmful effects. Which usually people tend to do after drinking it for the first time. It is a good soda, indeed."

Dipper took the bottle from Mabel's hands, and examined it. "Are you sure this will wake up Soos?"

"Well, alone maybe. But definitely, if it's combined with this." Candy monster took something from his back. "Hypermint!"

He had on his hand some apparently regular mints. "Have you ever popped mints into soda? Well, combine some Hypermints with Inca's Golden Bubbles and you'll have like a tenfold increased effect. Drink this and you'll probably feel like moving at light speed."

Dipper and Mabel looked at each other and smiled. "I guess that would wake up even a dead body!" Mabel said.

"Yeah, now the only problem is how to get close enough to him without getting caught. We can't just offer it to him." The monster said.

"Leave that to us." Dipper said, turning to look at his twin. "Mabel, it seems we'll have to make a little 'incursion' here."

"You mean that…"

"Yeah, prepare to get Nyarfed."

Mabel grinned widely. "Yes! General Dipping Sauce, Sir!" Mabel yelled, making the hand salute from the military.

"Nyarfed?" the monster said.

"Let's just say we have the perfect equipment for this mission." Dipper answered.

He took a piece of cardboard and placed it on the floor. "Mabel, do you have any markers?" Mabel searched on her night gown pocket and took out two colored markers, Dipper grabbed the red one.

"Okay, we are currently here on the gift shop." He started to draw the different rooms on the shack. "Our summer edition Nyarf guns are on the living, and I think we should also get the dart guns. Apparently Soos and Stan are here on the floor room. I'll go on recon mission to know where exactly they are, while you two get the guns prepared."

Mabel and the Monster nodded. "Once we are ready, we have to lure him somehow to, let's see…the parlor. There, we'll set a trap to immobilize him and make him drink this soda."

Mabel looked at the map. "The parlor. That's where we defeated those creepy wax figures. And that's where Soos will fall!"

"That's right sis." Dipper smiled. "Do you have anything that can hold Soos still for some seconds?" He asked the monster.

"Oh yeah, I know exactly what to use."

"Good" Dipper said. "Then, I think we can green-light this operation."

"Hey, I was just thinking." Mabel said to the monster. "And I know this isn't exactly the best moment, but… do you have a name?" Mabel had been really curious about that. "It's just that we're going on a dangerous mission, and we should know how to call each other. And I don't think you would like that we call you 'Candy Monster' anymore."

Candy Monster smiled. "You know, it's funny because I don't really have one. Where I come from, we are called by the name of our occupation. So I'm like Depurator number 6, from sector 18. However, my mom used to call me 'his little bloom'. She said I looked like a flower bloom when I was born, and my family liked it. Also, I'm known as 'The Scorcher' on this awesome game I play with my friends. So… I uh… I think you can call me by one of those."

"Well, we don't really have the time to… "

"I've got it!" Mabel interrupted Dipper. "How about 'Bloomscorch'? It describes you perfectly! And your mom will love it."

"I guess it's quite appropriate." Bloomscorch said.

"And our names are…"

"Dipper and Mabel. I know. It's a pleasure to meet you officially."

The twins smiled widely. Dipper spoke. "Okay, we have a plan. Now let's make it work." He grabbed the video camera, clicked on the record button and pointed it to him.

"Hello everybody. This will no longer be just Dipper's Guide To The Unexplained. Welcome to The Mystery Shack's Night After Summerween Madness. It's about 1:30 in the morning, and we're about to get out of this hideout and face the threat. With the help of our new friend, Bloomscorch here" He pointed it to him. "we're gonna try to change Soos back to normal. In case our plan fails, I hope this recording survives so everybody knows the truth." He put the camera around his neck.

"What about Waddles, Dip?"

"It will be safer for him to stay here."

Mabel nodded and put Waddles on the floor. "We are going to discuss some issues with Soos, Waddles. We'll come back for you soon." She said to the pig and got on her feet.

"Ready?" Dipper asked.

"Ready" Mabel answered.

"Mystery Twins?" He asked.

"Mystery Twins!" She said, and they both fist bumped.

"Mystery Twins?" Bloomscorch said. He let out a small laugh. "You are for sure the weirdest kids on this town."

They both smiled and spoke at the same time. "Yes. Yes we are."


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

"Whoa…wha…Oh God…that was it…I will never take another step in my life." Stan said.

"Well, I'd say you made a pretty good job, Stan. Now you know what it's like to be a handyman." Soos said. For the last minutes, Soos had made Stan 'help' him with his special project. First, he had Stan take all of the mirrors that were still intact to the shack's museum. They were like twenty, and Stan was obligated to carry them on his back, first outside the shack through the side door, and then inside again through the main entrance, which was very cruel because Soos wasn't planning to use all of them. Then, Soos entered the storage room and told Stan what he wanted also in the museum. Grunkle Stan carried one by one the heavy stuffed bodies of several dead animals. They were stored on that room, since the day Soos found it, so they could be turned into Mystery Shack's wonderful attractions by cutting parts from some and pasting them on others. Soos was usually assigned to this task.

"I… didn't… know… y-you had to remodel the shack every day… Soos" Stan said panting.

"Oh, don't be such a wimp, Stan. You should be grateful we didn't take the long road through the hallway and the gift shop."

_The gift shop_. Stan thought. How much time had passed? Twenty minutes? Half an hour? He was hoping that by now the twins had come up with a plan to stop Soos and rescue him. It sure was a good thing they didn't go through the gift shop. If they had, Dipper and Mabel wouldn't have had the chance to try anything. And speaking of that, how in heavens Dipper had that book and he hadn't noticed? And why did Soos take it? Did he need it for his hidden purposes? Or did he actually want to stop Dipper from using it against him? Well, now the kid would have to use only his brain to find a solution. He didn't see another way of escaping, and whatever was on Soos' mind was definitely bad, especially because it seemed to involve those expensive and delicate stuffed animals he had gotten from overseas.

Now, they were back at the floor room, where Soos was thinking on what else he could make Stan do to make him suffer a little more. He was planning that Stan make a trip to the portable toilets. That would've been like the sweetest moments of the night, but something told Soos that he should hurry if he didn't want more complications. Despite he had taken Dipper's journal, Soos knew he shouldn't underestimate the twins.

"I think that's enough Stan. Let's go back to the museum for tonight's main spectacle."

"Just… just give me a second to breathe a little more. In fact, I could use a break now. You can't deny your boss a short break, right Soos?"

With a move of his hand, Soos levitated Stan and got close to his face. "Oh, you'll have much time to rest once we finish with your 'transformation'"

"T-transformation?"

"You have always been proud of yourself for offering the people of Gravity Falls the strangest and most amazing oddities. The likes of which the world has never known. So…" Soos made a suspense pause. "What would make you happier than becoming the strangest attraction of all?"

Stan's eyes grew widely. He remembered the animals he had just carried to the museum. The museum…This definitely was on the road to turning really bad for him. _Kids._ He thought. _Anytime you want._

A creaking sound came from the hallway. It was almost inaudible, but it caught the attention of Soos and Stan. They both turned their faces to the door. Soos smiled. "I wasn't expecting them so early." He said. He started to climb the few steps to the door, as Stan followed him floating. "It looks that your family will join us after all, Stan."

Soos walked down the corridor slowly. He stopped in the middle of it and listened. For a moment, he heard a voice, a very low voice coming from somewhere. He looked carefully and soon he noticed that the door to the parlor was slightly opened. Stan noticed it too.

"So Stan." Soos said loudly. "It looks like they came back to where it all started. Let's go to the museum by making a little stop at the living room." With that being said, he ascended a few inches from the floor and started to float towards the parlor. Stan was about to alert the kids, but a piece of cloth came from nowhere and wrapped around his mouth. _We are doomed_. He thought.

Soos left Stan floating in the middle of the hallway and entered the parlor in complete silence. There were no steps from him to be heard. He listened again, and he heard voices coming from behind the fireplace. His eyes went to the window, and then up to the ceiling. There was no light on this room, just the glowing of the moon, thanks to which, he saw a quick shadow moving on the wall behind the fireplace. Incredibly fast he floated to that position with his eyes shining in green.

"Got you Mystery Twins!" He yelled.

In front of him was no twin at all. Just a small video camera facing the wall. The voices came from a video that was being played.

Up on the ceiling, just above Soos, two figures that had been completely quiet prepared to move. Dipper counted on his mind. _Three, Two, One… Execute!_ Dipper and Mabel fell from the ceiling just behind Soos with their Nyarfs aiming at him.

But just milliseconds before they landed, they were stopped in the air, surrounded by green light.

"Aha!" Soos said, turning around.

The twins were lifted and they struggled in the air, but their arms and legs were immobilized.

"Good, good, Dipper and Mabel." Soos said smiling widely. "That was so well elaborated. The opened door, the voices coming from the camera. I wouldn't have expected less from you."

Mabel looked surprised. "You… you knew it all the time!"

"Of course!" He said. "I'm also the more intelligent side of Soos. I knew you'd try to set me up by distracting me and then jumping out from the dark. I just didn't know where you were hiding until I entered the room."

Stan came running from the hallway. Apparently Soos had let him go. "Kids!" He said when he saw the twins caught. "Oh no! Soos! You let them go!" He ran towards Soos, but got also frozen in the air.

"Well, now the family is complete." He said. "And where's your little buddy? Did he run away as you should've done?"

Dipper smiled. "Soos, my old friend. You are forgetting a crucial aspect of a distraction."

"And what is that?" Soos asked.

"It can be done twice." Dipper said slowly.

In that moment, Bloomscorch jumped from above them. A gun on each of his hands. Eyes on his target. He aimed directly to Soos' head…That is, until a hand grabbed him on the air.

"Ah, Yes! The surprise second wave!" He said as he held Bloomscorch with his right hand. "I was wondering when you would come out of the same spot the kids were at, which I was supposed to have forgotten about by now, and catch me 'off guard'."

Dipper's face went pallid as he saw the scene.

Soos tossed the creature on the air and he remained still there. "Sorry guys." Bloomscorch said with his eyes closed.

"It's okay." Dipper said, staring at nothing.

"Despite you surprise me again Dipper" Said Soos. "we all knew everything would end this way. This clearly proves that you couldn't think of something better without your precious journal."

Dipper got angry. He then searched for his fallen gun on the floor. Soos looked on that direction. He walked to it and picked it up.

"So, what's better than a trap? A double trap? Hahaha. That's what you came up with?" Soos said while holding the gun on his hand. "What is it that you wanted to shoot me with? Pitt Cola?"

Dipper struggled again. "No! Don't!"

Soos manipulated the green summer edition Nyarf gun, and opened the little chamber which was supposed to contain water. When he did it, a small pink sphere came out of it and fell to the ground. Soos picked it up.

"Is this…chewing gum?"

What came next happened really fast. A popping sound was heard. Soos felt that a strange force pushed him, he felt a weird scent of strawberries, and then, all he could see was a pink blur. The special "trapping gum" covered all his body and pasted him on one of the walls.

Instantly, they all were released from Soos' levitation power and fell to the ground. Dipper stood up quickly and grabbed one of the guns. He pointed it to Soos and…

"There you have it Soos! Triple trap! That's what I can think of without the journal!" Dipper was almost euphoric.

"Dipper it worked! You did it!" Mabel said running to her brother and giving him a huge hug.

"Thanks. I couldn't have done it without my sidek…"

Mabel gave him a look.

"Okay… without my partner. My very special partner."

Mabel smiled. "And we also have to give credit to Bloomscorch here."

"Thank you guys."

"Wait, were you all faking?" Stan asked confused.

"Of course, Grunkle Stan." Dipper said. "By the way, that was great acting from both of you."

Grunkle Stan laughed loudly. "Hahahaha! Nice job kids! You too little freak!"

"His name is Bloomscorch, Grunkle Stan!" Mabel said.

"Bless you kid." He didn't understand and walked to Soos on the wall. "Soos, it seems that your little payback plans will have to be postponed!"

"So, are you alright, Grunkle Stan? Did he actually hurt you?" Dipper asked him.

Stan looked at him. "Huh? Oh yeah! No, your Grunkle is okay. Just a little tired because of carrying all those things to the museum."

"The museum?"

"Yeah, Soos here made me take the stuffed animals to the museum. Also some mirrors. You know, the few you didn't break, Soos. Then he said something about me becoming an attraction. You really freaked me out kid! What were you thinking?!"

Soos didn't say a thing. His face was all covered with gum. Bloomscorch approached him with a small cylinder on his hand.

"Now guys, this is another special soda that will let us see his face. It's the only thing that can dissolve trapping gum." He poured some on Soos' head and the gum started to evaporate, reveling Soos' serious face.

"Well done kids." Soos said calmed. "I made a mistake thinking you weren't important rivals. Especially you Dipper."

Mabel and Bloomscorch had grabbed their own weapons and were waiting.

"But, unfortunately for you, I'm still being more powerful, and perhaps you should've just run seconds ago." His eyes illuminated and a smile appeared on his face. However, nothing happened. Soos tried moving his hands but there was no effect.

"See? I told you guys. The gum is blocking really well his telekinesis." Bloomscorch said smiling. "And also the rest of his powers."

Soos was very surprised by hearing this, and also really angry. Soon, his eyes stopped shining. "You little rat! How you dare!"

"What was that about I didn't represent a threat?" Bloomscorch said.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" Soos moved furiously inside his sticky prison.

"We must hurry, before the gum loses its effect." Dipper said, and he took some Hypermints from his pocket. He walked to Soos while opening his Nyarf.

"What are you gonna do anyway? Keep me trapped here like another strange attraction?"

Grunkle Stan had instantly many ideas of how this could represent a lot of profit. After all, it seemed he had just lost his most valuable worker. "Actually kids, that's not a bad idea."

Mabel punched him on the arm. "Grunkle Stan! That's Soos! He's not an attraction! And we are gonna change him back to normal."

"What?!" Soos yelled.

Stan abandoned that idea. Instead, he saw the small camera on the floor and picked it up. "Well, it won't be a total lost. Who needs the real supernatural creature, when I can sell hundreds of copies of authentic paranormal activity on the Mystery Shack!" He looked at Mabel. "Take this kid." He put the camera on her hands. "Whatever happens, just keep rolling!"

Mabel didn't say anything, since Dipper and she also wanted to have visual evidence of the events of the night.

"Change me back?!" Soos asked again. "You are gonna change me with that thing?!"

Dipper was climbing to his head. "That's right, buddy. We are gonna get back the old Soos. And you are gonna return to the place you belong." He opened the gun and popped the Hypermints on the Peruvian soda. Then he closed it. "Now open up…"

He was pushed violently by Soos. "Never!" He yelled.

Dipper fell to the floor. They all saw how Soos was fighting for freedom behind the layer of gum. At some spots it seemed to be thinner now.

"Wow. He's stronger than I thought. But that gum is supposed to resist." Said Bloomscorch.

Dipper got up and searched for his gun. He saw it was shaking. He picked it up. "Hold him guys. I'm making another try."

Hearing this, Mabel put the camera on the floor and she and Stan ran to Soos. They grabbed what they thought were his arms. Bloomscorch got one of his legs.

"You're not gonna put that thing into my mouth, Dipper!"

"Look man, you have lost. Just let our friend come back." Dipper approached Soos and he was about to put a hand on him, when that green light appeared on his eyes again. Everybody stopped and feared the worst. Then, behind the trapping gum, Soos' body started to glow.

"NOOOOOOO!" He screamed.

Dipper fell on his back, Bloomscorch was sent some feet behind him, and Mabel and Stan were tossed aside in different directions.

"Bloomscorch!" Dipper yelled from the floor.

"I know! We just need more gum!" He reached for his gun, but it rolled away from him. The other Nyarfs did the same and climbed the walls, except for Dipper's, which he was holding tightly against his chest.

"Not this time Soos!" Dipper felt his gun was going to fly away from his hands.

Soos had recovered his evil smile. "You had your chance kid! Just let go that toy!"

The glow in Soos' eyes increased and Dipper's gun escaped his grip. It flew away to the other side of the room, but Dipper caught it with only one hand, turning his back to Soos. The others could only look. Dipper was fighting against Soos' power with all his strength. The gun was now shaking very violently, because of the strange force acting on it, but also since its content was becoming very unstable.

"You can't win this one, kid! Hahahahha!"

Dipper closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. He felt his arm was going to be torn. _Not this time! Not anymore Soos!_ Dipper shouted in his head. His fingers were slipping. He had to think fast.

"Soos!" He yelled with the strength he had left. "You ruin it every time we play videogames… but I don't care! Because you're my friend!"

Soos' face changed suddenly. Dipper felt how the force he was fighting weakened. _It worked!_ He thought, and quickly pulled harder. Before Soos could react, Dipper turned around, aimed, and shot his Nyarf. The anomalous soda hit Soos hard on the face, leaving him stunned. He lost control over the objects in the room and his telekinesis faded. However, almost none of the soda entered his mouth.

_Now._ Dipper thought. He ran and jumped to Soos. He landed on his chest. The moment he did it, Soos reacted. The green glowing returned stronger than before, followed by a long roar from Soos. A creak came from the fireplace. Then, the green fire appeared on it. In two seconds, a path of tall flames abandoned the fireplace and formed a barrier around Soos and Dipper.

"Dipper!" Mabel shouted. "We have to help him!"

"We can't go through the fire!" Bloomscorch responded to her.

Mabel looked everywhere. Then she looked up. "Grunkle Stan, give me a hand here!"

Inside the fire wall, Soos was trying to get rid of the last of the gum to free his arms. At the same time, he was struggling to get Dipper off himself. The kid had put an arm around his neck and wasn't going to let go.

"You never give up, kid. Right?" Soos got one leg out of the gum.

Dipper had his gun near Soos' mouth, but once again he was fighting against an incredibly strong force. Each time he almost put the gun in position, his arm was pushed by the Soos. He accidentally pulled the trigger a couple of times, firing bursts of soda at the wall.

"Hahaha! You're strong! I have to admit that. But I have already won. I only have to push until this gum loses its effect." Soos was laughing, despite Dipper was holding on his neck really hard. "And don't think on playing with my emotions again!"

Dipper had almost done it. "I…..I'll never let you….hurt Grunkle Stan!"

"I won't hurt him! I'll make him famous! World famous! And there's room for you too!" Soos said. "You all three can be part of my special exhibition! I'm sure Mabel will love it. She'll only have to lose some parts of her body!"

Dipper was on the limit of his strength. He couldn't even believe he was standing against an evil force with only his weak arms. He knew he could hold on for some more time, and that was all. But when Soos literally threatened with damaging his sister, Dipper felt all the limits faded away. He felt a mix of fear and anger, which soon transformed into rage.

Soos managed to free one of his arms. "That's enough, kid. Get off me." He grabbed Dipper's vest from the collar, but his arm was pushed away violently. Dipper had let go from Soos' neck. Instead, he held Soos' free arm to the wall strongly, and stood up on the sticky gum on his chest. Soos couldn't believe it, but he was fighting against the kid's noodle arm.

Dipper looked at him right into the eyes. "YOU ARE NOT GONNA TOUCH HER!" He yelled on his face.

Soos' expression was that of someone who had seen a lightning bolt strike just in front of him. Dipper started to point the Nyarf to Soos' mouth. Soos used all his will to regain control of the situation. He was glowing. The gun was glowing. Dipper himself was glowing, but the boy kept moving his arm, with determination on his eyes.

"Impossible!" Soos yelled. "You're just a wimpy little kid! You're no match fo…"

Dipper stuck the gun on Soos' mouth. "Just shut up, Soos." He said, and pulled the trigger.

A click was heard. But there was no "boom" or "splash". They didn't make a move, Soos scared and Dipper blinking. He pulled the trigger again, and again. Nothing happened. He looked at the gun confused. Then, he realized it wasn't as heavy as before.

"Dang…. It's empty." Dipper said.

Soos scared face changed to a deformed smile. "Hahaha" He laughed with the gun still on his mouth. "Hahahahahhahahahahaha!"

With a green flash from his eyes, Soos grabbed Dipper's hand, and released his trapped arm. Dipper was too stunned to fight, and his empty Nyarf flew away from his fingers. Soos looked Dipper in the eyes. "Next time remember to reload."

He took the kid by his chin roughly and brought him closer to his face. Dipper felt how any hope vanished inside him.

"You lose. I win, boy." Soos said.

_Three, Two, One... "_Banzai!"

Mabel jumped from the ceiling and landed over Soos with her legs around his neck. She instantly pulled his hair very hard with both hands.

"How do you like the Waddles attack, Soos?! Don't you dare to hurt my brother!"

Soos couldn't do anything but screaming in pain. Dipper was frozen by the astonishment. He only reacted when he saw what Mabel had brought with her. A Nyarf gun that was shaking. He took it off of her hand and positioned it over Soos' face, but a force stopped him from lowering it.

"Ahhhhh! You little demon…. No, not again, Dipper!" Soos yelled.

Dipper put all his strength on it, but the glowing gun didn't move. Just then, Mabel let go Soos' hair and placed both hands on the Nyarf. "Come on bro!"

Soos tried desperately to stop them with his arms, but the twins pushed the gun together and stuck it inside his mouth. Immediately, Dipper pulled the trigger.

The complete load of energized soda was released inside Soos. The force of the soda burst was like that of the engine of a rocket, a small rocket. However, it sent Dipper and Mabel flying through the air. The fire and all the green lights disappeared completely. Soos swallowed almost all the soda and coughed violently.

"Ohhhhhhhh… what was that thing kids?" He asked before his eyes opened widely.

Dipper and Mabel had fallen to the wooden floor hard. Stan and Bloomscorch helped them up. They all turned around to see Soos, who was making weird noises. Actually his stomach was the one making noises. Soos' whole body started to shake. His eyes seemed to be bigger and he was staring at nothing. Soon he opened his mouth and emitted more strange noises. Also there was foam forming at it.

"I think it worked." Dipper said.

"Yeah, that or we just killed him." Bloomscorch said.

Mabel looked at the creature with a . "I-I mean….h-he….look!" He said.

Soos started to glow again. It was a strong light that lasted only for a few seconds. Just after that, he let out an incredibly loud and long burp. He seemed to be a little disoriented.

"What the…I don't…you guys…" He said. Then he saw the group in front of him. "Whoa, what is happening dudes?"

Soos spoke with his old and normal voice. The twins looked at each other smiling.

"Soos!" They shouted and ran to him. "Are you okay?" Dipper asked.

"Dipper? What is going on? And… why am I hanging from the wall?" He said. He was still a little dizzy.

"Soos! We just kicked your evil counterpart's butt and sent him to sleep!" Mabel said as she tried to free Soos' leg from the gum.

"Evil? Y-you mean that creepy voice in my heaaahhhhh…..ahhhh…..headadadaddhhh."

"Soos?" Dipper said. "You okay?"

"Suuuuuuuuuure…Diiididdididiiiipppppp….babbabbaahhhh….." Soos kept mumbling and making noises. Dipper looked at Bloomscorch.

"What's happening to him?"

"Don't know… maybe the side effects?"

"What did you give him anyway, kids?" Grunkle Stan spoke from behind the video camera. He had taken it after helping Mabel climb to the ceiling and wasn't going to lose any detail of the happenings.

"It was some foreign soda we found on a secret underground room below the gift shop, combined with hyper energized mints." Dipper answered to his uncle, and now remembered he owed them an explanation.

"What?!" Stan shouted. "You gave him the expensive Peruvian soda?! You know how difficult it is to get that stuff?! I hope you didn't touch more of that merchandise down there!"

"Grunkle Stan, it was the only way to help him! And besides, there are still some bottles left."

His uncle sighed. "Well, I guess you are right. Anyway, I knew some day he was gonna get sick for drinking so much of it."

Dipper's eye twitched. "Wait, you're saying he has drunk this before?"

"What?! He's my oldest employee. Of course he knew about the secret storage room. And yes, he is kind of addicted to that golden soda. I caught him many times taking a sip from the bottles, so I decided to give him one bottle as a reward for doing some extra special chores. I think he just got used to those 'dangerous 'chemicals."

Dipper and Bloomscorch looked at each other. They both knew what the other was thinking, and it wasn't a good thing.

"Well that's a very clarifying piece of information Stan!" A strange but also familiar voice spoke behind them. They turned around and saw with horror that Soos had trapped Mabel with his arms and was covering her mouth with one hand. He had also come out of the gum prison. "Don't you love it that you were this close to stop me?" He said in a disturbing voice. That voice…

"Mabel…" Dipper said.

"This useless body turned out to be really helpful!" Soos said smiling. "Very well dudes. That soda almost knocked me out. But apparently, Soos has developed some kind of immunity to its effects."

Dipper fell to his knees. "B-b-b-b-but… y-you were gone!"

"To make it easier for you to understand, I'll summarize it: I'm back, and you're doomed."

A shot of soda hit Soos in the face again. He fell on his back and dropped Mabel. Dipper looked behind. He saw Bloomscorch with a Nyarf on his hands and terror on his face. Dipper ran to Mabel and helped her up.

Soos moaned on the floor. "Oww man, wait until I get up…"

"Quick!" Bloomscorch said. "He hasn't retrieved his powers yet! Let's get the heck out of here!"

Dipper nodded and took Mabel's hand. But when he was about to head for the door he saw something on the floor near Soos. Journal number three.

_Now or never_. He thought and ran to pick it up.

"Dipper you dork! Come here!" Mabel yelled.

Once Dipper had the book, he was about to run again, but someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around slowly.

"Sorry, I haven't finished reading it." Soos said close to his face.

Dipper fell backwards. "Hahahahahahaha!" Soos laughed. He jumped once again and recovered his glowing and his floating ability.

Dipper moved away from Soos. Being so scared, he couldn't even stand up. His hand touched something on the floor.

"So, you all come back here now, or will I have to hunt you one by one over the shack?" Soos asked the others who were at the door. "Not that I won't like it but we hav… "

Soos was hit yet another time by a projectile from a Nyarf fired by Dipper. This time he got trapped again in gum. He stared at Dipper with a dangerous look.

"Boy, remind me to paste that gun to your face when it's your turn."

Dipper stood up and fired again, and then he fired for a third time. Soos was surrounded by an amazing amount of gum.

"Seriously Dip?" Soos said.

"Dipper, just come here!" Bloomscorch yelled at him.

Dipper shot another pair of gum projectiles to the window. Then he ran to the door an emptied his gun. He took three pieces of hard gum candy on his hand and squeezed them until he heard a cracking sound, just as Bloomscorch had told him. He placed them on the floor. "Let's go now!" He yelled. Everybody got out.

"Dipper" Soos called him. "Sooner or later, I'm gonna get out. And when that happens, I promise you'll have a reason to be scared."

Dipper looked away and closed the door. The candy exploded and sealed the parlor.

...  
...

Dipper stared at the door, breathing heavily. He suddenly aimed at it and shot more gum.

"Stop it kid!" Bloomscorch jumped and took the Nyarf off of his hands.

"Sorry… I just wanted to make sure he is really trapped."

"Well, he'd better be. Because you just used all the gum candy." Bloomscorch said with some anger in his voice. "Oh wait, there's more left!" He said while searching on his interdimentional pocket. "Yeah, one piece. Only one little piece of gum candy."

"Dipper that was so stupid! He could've done something to you!" Mabel yelled at her brother's face.

"I'm sorry, okay?! I had to get this back!" He said holding the journal on his hand. "Whatever he's planning, he needs the book to do it. I'm sure."

"Actually that's true. When he had me prisoner, he wouldn't lift his eyes from the journal." Stan said. "B-because t-that is a journal, right? That strange old book you have there… "

Dipper and Mabel looked at Stan suspiciously.

"Sooooo… " Stan said. "W-what do we do now? We run away like rats?"

Dipper let out a sigh. "I hate to admit it guys, but I have no more ideas. The only thing I know is that we can't let him out."

"He won't leave this room for a while. That gives us time to get out and think on something else." Bloomscorch said.

In that moment, the shack started to vibrate. A weird sound came from behind the door. Dipper's eyes widened.

"No!" He yelled. "If we go now, he'll escape, and who knows how much damage he can cause on the town looking for us. We… we just need to secure very well this door and the windows. Somehow… "

"Wait Dipper. We're just gonna lock him up? We have to strike again!" Mabel said.

"What else can we do? We can't confront him."

"But we were winning! Didn't you see it? Soos was in there! The soda worked Dipper!"

"Mabel, that's over. It won't change Soos back, you heard him." Dipper just looked down to the floor. "We had a weapon and a plan, they failed. Now we can only resist here."

Everybody stayed in silence for a minute. They didn't know what to do and the vibrations continued. Mabel started to chew on her hair. Dipper noticed Stan was still recording and pointing at him. He felt annoyed. "Stop it, Grunkle Stan." He said and slapped Stan's hand.

"Sorry" He said. "Hey uh… I was wondering, how did you know telling Soos he was your friend would weaken him?"

"Oh yeah." Mabel said. "How did you make it, Dip?"

Dipper looked at them. "I-I didn't know if that was going to work. I was panicked. And suddenly this weird idea came to me. If this Soos is so mad by the way he had been treated, maybe treating him well can calm him, right? I didn't have any more ideas, and I think he was just surprised I said that in that particular moment."

Stan thought about it. "Yeah, I guess so." He said.

They remained in silence for one more minute.

Dipper stared at the door. "Bloomscorch, we need to use that last gum."

"Dipper, let's leave this place, one more piece of gum will only buy us minutes." The monster said.

"No." Dipper said. "I mean, we can't… "

"Dipper… " Mabel called him.

"We can't let him out!"

"Dipper!" Mabel yelled at him.

"What?!"

"I was just thinking… what if we had another weapon?"

"What other weapon?" He asked.

"You said we needed something really intense to wake Soos up, right?"

"What do you have in mind?"

Mabel looked down and played with her fingers. "How about… how about something so intense it makes you zone out seriously? Something that makes you believe you're somewhere else, in a very twisted but at the same time nice place?"

Dipper came close to her with a worried look. "Mabel… are you talking about… d-dru…"

Mabel quickly put a hand on his mouth. "Don't say it! Never say that word!"

Dipper grabbed her hand. "Well then… are you talking about those dangerous substances that adults consume to 'feel better'?"

"No…" Mabel said looking down again.

"Then what is it?! We don't have much time!"

"I-I'm talking about… S-sm… Sm…"

"W-what was that?"

Mabel looked at him and said. "I… I'm talking about Smile Dip, Dip."

"Smile Dip?" Dipper repeated. He quickly recalled the incident on the convenience store, and what Mabel told him about it the next day. _I guess that is pretty intense._

"Yes! Smile Dip is perfect!" Bloomscorch shouted.

"You know about Smile Dip?" Mabel asked him.

"Sure I do! Everybody knows about it. One of humanity's most famous mistakes. We did our best to free this planet from that crazy thing. But… how do YOU know about it? We took care of it years ago."

"It seems you forgot to search on a haunted convenience store at Gravity Falls." Dipper said.

"Bloomscorch, please tell me it can wake up the other side of Soos!" Mabel was really close to the monster's face.

"Yes. It's the most intense mind blowing edible thing I know about. It actually has done something similar in the past, which I prefer not to mention right now. So, yes it will definitely wake up old Soos."

"Well, that's just great. Where are we gonna find Smile Dip at this hour?" Dipper said. "We can't run to the store for it! By the time we're back, Soos would've been gone already!"

"Hehe… " Mabel laughed nervously. "We may not need to get out of the shack to get it, Dipper."

Dipper gave his sister a very serious look. "Mabel, what do you mean?"

"It's just that… t-there's the possibility we can find some in… our room."

Dipper couldn't believe it. "And how exactly did it made its way to our room, Mabel?"

"Well, Hehe! Maybe I sneaked to the store one night and begged those ghosts for just one small package of it." She grinned widely at her brother's angry face. "Uh… Have I told you that you look cute when you are sleeping deeply… and also when you are angry?"

"Mabel! Do you mean that after the seizure you had at the convenience store, and after the other seizure you had because of that tiny amount you found on your sweater, and even after we talked about it and you promised to never do it again, YOU DID IT AGAIN?!"

"I couldn't help myself, Dip!" She said with a sad face. "I just wanted to try it one last time!"

Something hit the door strongly from the inside and made it tremble.

"Mabel! …. you…. you… Ahh! We'll talk about this later!" He faced the others. "We have a few minutes before he gets out! Come on, to the attic!"

They all headed to the stairs. Dipper put a hand on Mabel's shoulder and stopped her.

"I meant it. We are going to talk about this." He said.

Mabel tried to smile. "J-just remember I'm your sister… ok?"

...  
...

Inside the parlor, Soos had been working hard to escape from his gum prison. To his surprise, he noticed the soda might had increased his powers. The gum was breaking fast as he concentrated, but still, he had to deal with three layers of it.

"Fools! Hahahaha. That soda was like a revitalizing elixir! I can't wait to thank them for it."

The shack vibrated because of the green glowing energy inside the room. He finally destroyed the last of the gum and walked away.

"However, I can't allow they shoot me again with it. I almost lost control. And besides, I don't even need it. Let's just stick to the plan."

He looked at the window which was also covered with gum. "Nah, too easy."

He walked to the door and slammed the gum with his fist really hard. The entire building trembled, and pieces of gum fell to the floor

"Hahahaha! Kids! We will meet sooner than you think!" He extended his arms to the door and the green energy started to dissolve the pink matter.

"And once we meet, Dipper, you're gonna wish for real bullets on that gun." He said in low voice. "Not even your precious book will save you."

He suddenly heard noises coming from the ceiling. It sounded like footsteps. He stopped what he was doing. "So you think you can hide again from me and make me believe you ran away?"

Soos thought for one second.

"Ha ha ha hahahahahha!" He laughed and turned around to see the intact fireplace. "How come did you forget about this one, boy?"

He knelt down and entered the fireplace. He soon noticed it was too narrow for him.

"Well, I'll just have to make my own way up." He said smiling, and advanced breaking the bricks until he was under the chimney duct. Then, he started climbing.

...  
...

They stormed into the room loudly. Bloomscorch stayed at the entrance with a gun. Dipper looked around. The room was a complete mess. He found his backpack and put his gun and some bottles of soda on it.

"Well, where did you hide it Mabel" He asked her.

"Uh, you know, you should go and join Bloomscorch on the door while I search for it."

"Mabel! Just tell me where it is!"

Mabel closed her eyes and said. "It's up there, on that box over the shelf." She pointed up.

Suddenly they heard a noise coming from the chimney duct beside Dipper's bed. Dipper immediately got it.

"I never blocked the fireplace!" He said alarmed. Bloomscorch came from the entrance. "What!?" They heard the sound of bricks breaking. It was getting closer.

"He's climbing up the duct! Get in position! Grunkle Stan, you too! Can you please stop recording?!

"Oh! Alright!" Stan grabbed a gun and pointed it to the chimney.

"This was a bad idea!" Mabel yelled. Just then, the chimney exploded, and tossed pieces of bricks, wood and parts of Dipper's bed through the air.

Soos' face appeared in the middle of the debris. "Here's Soos, family! Hahahaha!"

"Good bye Soos!" yelled Bloomscorch, and he emptied his gun. Soos received the impact and tried his best to shut his mouth. He felt through the duct.

"He'll come back, hurry!" The monster told the twins.

Dipper and Mabel tried to reach the box. They put their hands on it and pulled. "Let's hope you have enough Smile Dip left to stop Soos, Mabel!" They suddenly pulled too fast and the box turned over dropping its content. About twenty packages of Smile Dip fell over Dipper. Some of them were totally empty.

Mabel looked at him with tears on her eyes. "I'm sorry Dipper! That journey to the store became many more!"

Dipper stared at her narrowing his eyes. "Mabel Pines, I am so disappointed in you."

A green glow appeared on the chimney. It was followed by Soos. "Okay, that I didn't expect. But I'm back."

"Grab as many bags as you can, now!" Dipper shouted.

Everybody did it except for Stan. He aimed his gun at Soos. "Get back to the hole you came from, kid!"

"Woah, point that thing somewhere else!" Soos said, and with a shining in his eyes he immobilized Stan and lifted him. Stan dropped his Nyarf and the camera. Bloomscorch caught them. "Things are gonna be more simple and faster now, Pines family."

"Grunkle Stan!" The twins yelled.

"Don't worry! You are coming too!" Soos raised his hands but he was hit again in the face. Only this time it wasn't gum or soda. Whatever was fired from Bloomscorch's gun exploded into a million of shiny pieces on Soos' face. He was pushed back and had to close his eyes. He got stuck on the hole behind him, but didn't let go off Stan.

"Run kids, run! Stay away from the museum! But no matter what happens, keep rolling!"

Dipper took Mabel's hand and got out of the room with Bloomscorch behind them. "He won't be able to see well for a short time." The monster said.

"Wait! Come here!" Soos yelled. "Oh, you don't want to take that way…"

They made it to the stairs. Soos was counting on this. With a snap of his fingers, the pile of kitchen stuff that was on the staircase entryway ignited again. Only this time, the green fire was bigger, and it started to climb the stairs.

Dipper stopped at the first step when he looked down, but he lost his balance. Mabel took him by the shoulders just when he was about to fall into the flames.

They stared at their only way of escape. "Oh crap!" Dipper said.

"Yeah! Just stay there and wait… for me to get out from here." Soos said from the chimney. When he finally came out of it, all he saw was sparkles everywhere. "Wow… are you some kind of fairy, little freak?" He yelled at Bloomscorch. "Because that would make a great attraction!"

Mabel got close to her brother and whispered. "Dipper the window! We can escape to the roof!"

Dipper saw that the blinded Soos was coming out of the room. He nodded. They opened the triangular window and went out.

Soos recovered his vision little by little. He was on the attic, out of the kid's room, but no one was there. "You think they went through that window Stan?" He walked to it and stuck his head out. "Go ahead kids! I'll meet you in a moment!"

He went back inside. "Stan, no time to lose." He put a hand on the shoulder of the floating Stan.

"You should better pray that they don't go to the museum just as I told them, because they'll kick your fat butt once and for all!"

"What are you talking about? I can't let them miss the show! Let's just get you 'on stage' and then I'll go get them."

Soos headed to the stairs with Stan following him.

...  
...

Bloomscorch looked down from the edge of the roof. "I think he's not following us!"

"Good, but I don't think he's gonna give up that easily." Dipper said.

The group managed to get to Wendy's secret break spot by passing to the other side of the roof. They were panting from all the running and climbing.

"Now… we have to figure out how to give him this Smile Dip." Dipper said.

"I was thinking on combining it with the soda. But I don't know what's gonna be the result of mixing those two." Bloomscorch said.

"Let's hope it will be something powerful." Dipper opened his backpack and started to take out the Smile Dip.

"Soos might be immune to that soda, but I'm sure he has never faced Smile Dip." Mabel said.

"What was that you shot at him in the attic?" Dipper asked the monster while checking his gun.

He showed him a plastic bag. "It's called 'Sparks'. It's modified hard candy that breaks into pieces. It also can stun somebody for a while. This is my last offensive option, but luckily, we have a good amount of it."

"Then I guess this will be useful." He took two plastic things that looked like toys from his backpack. "Our Nyarf enhancement accessories for rapid fire happened to be here. Now we can turn our dart guns into machine guns. Plus, we still have some of Inca's Golden Bubbles Cola, and one last trapping gum." He said while placing the items on Wendy's sun chair.

"Well I had time to take this!" Mabel said and from nowhere took out more strange plastic toys.

Dipper dropped his jaw. "The Nyraf Portable Long Distance Rifle?! Why do you have this, Mabel?"

"Yeah I know." She said. "I wanted to bring my old reliable grappling hook, but in the middle of the chaos I didn't find it." Mabel spoke as she assembled the blue rifle. "Anyway, I ordered this baby before we left home. It turns out that they deliver also here in Gravity Falls. Man, you were going to be so doomed on our next match…. now, it's gonna be Soos the one who tastes it first."

"Okay… we need to have more communication, sis. First the Smile Dip, and now this." Dipper said.

They looked at all their guns and ammo. They had two water guns, two dart machine guns and one long distance rifle. They also had six bottles of soda, a big amount of Sparks, one piece of trapping gum, and like seven bags of Smile Dip. Finally, they had the Hypermints.

"Okay" Dipper said. "Let's load the water guns and everyone takes one extra bottle of soda. We divide the Smile Dip and the Sparks using the packages, also the mints.

Both Bloomscorch and Dipper took one water gun and one dart gun, while Mabel took her blue rifle.

"And Bloomscorch." Dipper called him. "Put this into your interdimentional pocket." He handed him the journal."

"Dipper, what are you doing?" Mabel asked.

"I don't know what Soos found here, but he needs it for his plan. Even if he captures us, we still have a chance if the book is safe. You can send it far away right?"

"Yes, of course" The monster said.

"Are you sure, Dip?"

"It's the best we can do, Mabel. Besides, we already have everything we need." He turned to Bloomscorch. "Go ahead."

Bloomscorch nodded and took the book to his right side, where it disappeared as if it had entered his body.

"Well guys, this is it. The final confrontation." Dipper said. "I guess we'll go back to the gift shop, and then… the museum."

He took out his video camera and saw that the batteries had run out. He searched on his pocket and found only two replacements. "Last charge for you." He changed the batteries and turned the device on.

"Dipper, are you really gonna keep doing that?" Mabel asked him.

"Mabel, have you forgotten it? We're doing it for science. And also, it's what Grunkle Stan would've wanted."

They heard a loud noise coming from the other side of the roof. They all ducked and looked on that direction

"I think we don't need to get down there." Mabel said.

"This is not exactly the best spot to ambush him! And we need to find Stan!" Dipper told her.

He pointed the camera to himself. "Hello! As you can see, we're on the roof. Now it's about 2:40 in the morning. Our first plan failed, and Soos has taken Stan prisoner again, but we are well armed, and thanks to Mabel's secret nightlife, we have the ultimate weapon." More crashing sounds could be heard and they saw how the highest part of the roof trembled with each one of them. Some tiles were falling down. Dipper pointed the camera to the roof, his team, and him. "I hope we survive to watch this with you guys! Welcome to the last stand of… "

The sound stopped and silence surrounded them. But only for a few seconds before the roof behind them was destroyed by Soos, who emerged floating in the air. They were caught so off guard that they could only stare in astonishment.

"Oh sweet! I knew you'd be up here."

Soon, the surface they were standing on started to tremble and noises came from it.

"Dipper!" Mabel yelled.

"Oh my God guys!… t-the last stand of The Mystery Shack's Night After… "

"Oh forget that! Just run!"

Mabel dragged him and they jumped just when Wendy's spot collapsed. Soos laughed, still suspended in the air. They climbed to the top of the roof.

"Let's go back to the attic!" Mabel said.

They moved to the edge of the roof to enter by the window, but Soos appeared in front of them. "Wrong way, dudes! Hahahahahaha!"

They quickly moved back and descended to the gift shop's roof. They opened the door and jumped.

Dipper stood up, not caring about the pain from the fall. "So, he's guiding us to the museum. Well, let's just get this thing over." He held his dart gun tightly.

"Dipper! Waddles is still down there!" Mabel said pointing to the rug.

"I told you he'd be safe there!"

Mabel was thinking on opening the door, but then, they heard a yell.

"Kids! Is that you?"

"Grunkle Stan!" The twins said. The three of them ran through the curtained doorway and finally entered the museum.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

They couldn't see anything, since it was the darkest hour of the night, the lights were off, and the moon had been covered by the clouds. They stopped for a moment and started to walk slowly. Dipper put the camera around his neck.

"Grunkle Stan, where are you?"

"Right here! Just look where you step!"

"You carried all the way that camera, and you couldn't bring a flashlight, Dip?"

"You could've grabbed one on the attic instead of your precious rifle!"

"Guys! Calm down!" Bloomscorch said. "Let's try to find the switch."

As they advanced some more, they heard the noise of glass breaking beneath their feet.

"I told you! Watch your step!... But, thinking about it….. break them all kids.!" Stan yelled.

"What?" Dipper said. "Aghhh! Can anyone turn on a light?!"

"I'll help you with that, Dipper." Soos' voice rumbled in the museum.

A very strong green light suddenly shone in front of them, illuminating the room partially.

"Woah! Get back! Find some cover!" Dipper yelled and they ran back. They got behind some furniture that had been left there by Stan. The three of them peeked from their hideout. Now, thanks to the light, they were able to see Stan.

They saw in surprise that he was hanging from the ceiling, tied with his arms behind his back, and just a few feet from the floor. Below him, there was a mirror. In fact, there were mirrors all around him, arranged in a circle. They were six, counting the one they had broken.

Behind Stan, they discovered that the source of light was no other than Soos. He was floating high in the air, with his arms crossed. They instantly noticed what was on his face. He was wearing some kind of black mask. It looked like a gas mask, but it only covered his mouth and nose, letting the rest visible. Dipper instantly thought about how this totally matched Soos' voice.

"What's up, dudes? I was waiting for you, so we can start the first tour of the day." He flew passing Stan and got on the front. His voice was slightly different.

"What is that?" Mabel yelled. "Are you trying to look like Bane, Soos?" Dipper looked at her. _Yep. That confirms it. _He thought.

"Oh, don't you like it? It's my newest accessory. You know, just in case you want to make me drink some crazy stuff again."

The twins and the monster felt a shiver down their spine. This was going to complicate things.

Soos paid attention at the broken mirror on the floor.

"Don't worry much about it." He said, and the mirror flew away. Then, another one came floating from a pile next to the wall and landed on the same spot. Next, he pointed at the ceiling and all the lamps and light bulbs shone in a green light.

"So, what are you guys doing back there? Come on, don't be shy. I've reserved front seats for you!" He yelled at them. The mask somehow made him sound more evil.

They looked at each other nervously. "What do we do now?" Mabel asked.

Dipper thought. "We have to trap him with the gum. Bloomscorch, give it to me." The monster handed him the candy sphere. Dipper held it tightly and thought again. "We need to attack from different spots if we want to defeat him. Mabel, you think you can run to that totem pole if I create a distraction?"

"Totally." She said holding her blue rifle tightly.

"Okay, you're gonna be the sniper. Just be careful." Mabel nodded and Dipper prepared his Sparks gun. "When I shoot, run to the other wall." He told Bloomscorch. "He'll have to decide who to attack." The monster nodded as well.

"Come on guys! Let's not make Stan wait more!" Soos yelled again.

Dipper aimed his gun. "He'll have to wait just a little more, Soos!" He said and shot to the mirrors. The burst exploded and broke three mirrors. Mabel and Bloomscorch ran to their spots. Soos watched angrily, but when he looked again at the kids, he only saw a little girl running to the right and a small animal like thing rushing to the left. Before he could react, everybody had taken cover again.

"What, seriously? You want to play this game?" He said. "Let's just leave that for later." He advanced towards the assault team that was hiding in front of him.

Dipper signed to Mabel. She filled his rifle taking Sparks from her pocket, aimed and fired.

"Ouch!" Soos yelled. The candy hit him on one arm. "You little demon! That hurts!" He looked in the direction where the shot had come from, and his eyes started to glow, but before he was able to do anything, Dipper fired his soda gun and hit him in the face.

Soos shook his head furiously. "Well, at least the mask is working!" He raised his hand, but again, Sparks hit him on his mask and face. He turned to Bloomscorch's spot.

"Stop it! Stop it now!"

"You're surrounded Soos!" Dipper yelled. "Release Stan and turn yourself in!"

"Hahahaha! That's the best you can do?!"

"You asked for it! Guys, let the Sparks rain!"

The three of them fired their sparks guns simultaneously, hitting Soos all over his body. He tried to use his hands as cover. He was also trying to use his green light powers, but he couldn't concentrate enough. Besides the pain, he was kind of blind because of the glowing of the exploding Sparks.

Dipper stopped firing sparks and changed to soda weapon, but he waited before shooting again. Soon, Mabel and Bloomscorch had to stop to reload. Soos had a moment to breath, and used his powers to toss a wooden barrel towards Bloomscorch. It destroyed the upper part of a stuffed animal which the monster was hiding behind. Soos took control of the pieces of the barrel and used them as shields. Immediately, Dipper fired a long burst of Hypermint powered soda. Soos did cover himself this time and the soda didn't hit him completely. He smiled and walked towards Dipper.

Mabel fired as well and hit Soos' mask. She then shot to his face, which Soos was covering with his hands. The candy made its way to its target. Soos turned his shields to Mabel, but he received Bloomscorch's fire from the other direction.

"Way to go kids!" Stan shouted, hanging from the ceiling. "Make him suffer! Just a little more! You almost do it!"

Dipper decided it was time for a direct attack. He came from behind the furniture and fired at Soos on the stomach. His teammates imitated him, advancing and firing short but regular bursts, which landed on different targets. Soos started to retreat, moaning in pain and mumbling inappropriate and offensive words. Dipper aimed at his legs and feet. Bloomscorch did the same thing. Soos felt it difficult to walk with the pain on his legs. Dipper saw this and very quickly shot a long load of soda at his feet.

Soos slipped and fell to the ground. "Hold him guys!" Dipper shouted. He took the trapping gum and put it on his gun.

Soos had found it fun that the kids were trying to fight him with toy guns, even when that soda was a little dangerous for him. However, until this point, he hadn't thought they could actually have a chance to win. When he fell loudly to the ground, shame and anger took control of him.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" He let out a huge cry and lifted off the ground.

"Fire at him!" Dipper yelled. They all did it. Soos continued to receive the shots. He floated back near Stan. He landed and took cover behind him. The team stopped firing, since they didn't want to hit Stan. Soos was really angry.

"Get out of there and fight, coward!" Bloomscorch shouted.

"Don't you dare to call me coward!" Soos raised his hands and the broken mirrors ascended.

"Incoming!" Mabel shouted. The three mirrors were shot at the kids and the monster. They hid behind the first thing they found. Sharp pieces of mirror glass flew in all directions after the mirrors crashed on the floor.

Dipper took a look. A piece of mirror was embedded on the wooden chest he was using to hide. Just a few inches from where his head was. He saw Soos near Stan. He looked exhausted. Dipper spotted Bloomscorch not too far. He called him by signs. Mabel had retaken her position on the totem pole.

"Well that went pretty good, right? How is our ammo?" Dipper said.

"We used some good amount of it." The monster said. "But I'm sure there's enough for another round like that."

Dipper looked at Mabel. She made the OK sign. He pressed the gun on his hands. "Gosh, I was this close to fire the trapping gum. I just wanted to be sure he wasn't going to use his powers on us." He took a deep breath. "No more war games now. I'll shot him at the first chance."

Soos was trying to recover himself. Things weren't supposed to be this way. He wanted to play a little with the kids, but they had gone too far.

"Come on Soos." he said to himself. "Control the situation. No more monkey business."

"The best you can do is surrender, kid." Stan told him. "They're gonna blow you into pieces!"

Soos let out a little laugh. "Unfortunately for you, they're not gonna do that tonight, Stan." His eyes started to glow. "Let's give them something to think about."

Dipper and the others were preparing for a second assault, when Soos called them.

"That was fun guys. Really. I'd love to play a little more with you, but time is precious and we have to move on. The only thing I want you to do now is to get out and hand me your weapons… That is, if you don't want your uncle to be hurt."

Dipper had a bad feeling. The sound of glass was heard again. They all looked at Soos. There he was, floating near Stan, who was surrounded by a dozen of sharp mirror pieces also in the air and pointing menacingly at his head.

"No!" Mabel yelled. "Don't do it Soos!"

"Oh boy, he's not joking." Bloomscorch said.

Dipper felt a cold sweat on his entire body. "Soos! Y-you are not gonna seriously do it…"

"Look dudes, what I prepared for Stan wasn't going to hurt him. At least not much. But if you want to complicate things for me, this would be also a good way to make him pay. So, your call Dipper, you can have a 'different' Grunkle, or you can have a Grunkle in tiny pieces."

"Kids! Just get out of here! He's gone completely nut…" Stan's mouth was covered with a piece of cloth again.

"Dipper, we have to stop him!" Mabel shouted at him. Dipper only looked at her. He wasn't able to speak. His breathing accelerated. He was trying hard to make his brain work and give him the littlest idea to get the heck out of this situation. He saw Mabel had an angry look on her face. Then, she reloaded her rifle with shaking hands.

"Mabel, no!" He whispered at her.

Bloomscorch put a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe that's the only way! We can't just surrender. Everything will be lost!"

Now, Dipper started to feel really scared. They had to decide. Either give up, let Soos capture them and do with Stan and with them whatever he wanted, or remain free and watch their uncle die. Dipper didn't even want to think of any of the possibilities.

"I…we…need to get close…I need to get closer…" He couldn't make sense. "Darn it Soos! You can't do this!" He shouted.

"Yeah well, there's really no time for this. So you have like a minute to decide, ok?" Soos yelled back. The pieces of mirror suddenly moved closer to Stan.

Dipper's heart was pounding hard and extremely fast. "need to get close...I need to get closer!..." He seemed to have lost the sense of reality. "closer…closer…closer…" He turned his head to see Mabel, who was holding her rifle strongly, and slowly carrying it to her shoulder. _The rifle_. He emptied his Sparks gun. "She can do it…I…we…we just need to get closer to him!"

Mabel was about to stand up when Dipper moved faster. He came from behind the chest.

"Alright Soos… you win." He said and tossed his soda gun in front of him.

"Dipper!"

"What are you doing, Dipper! Get back here!"

He looked at them. "It's useless guys, we can't do anything this time." He turned to face Soos. "Just don't hurt our uncle."

"Sure. I'm just waiting for the others."

Dipper looked at the monster. "Bloomscorch, please, it's for my family."

Bloomscorch considered making a last surprise shot, but he knew he was too far and that Stan would be gone by the time Soos was hit. He also stood up and lowered his guns.

"Thanks" Dipper walked to Mabel, who was looking at the floor. "Mabs… come here."

She walked away from the totem pole and joined him. She looked at Soos with fury. Dipper stood in front of her.

"It's over, Mabel." He grabbed her rifle with one hand. His other hand was still holding his sparks gun.

"We don't have all night, Dipper" Soos yelled at him.

Mabel looked at her brother. "B-but Dipper…"

"No Mabel!" He shouted. "Nobody is gonna die tonight!" Mabel lowered her head again.

Since he was giving his back to Soos, the handyman wasn't able to see what Dipper was doing with his hands. "Everything is gonna be fine." He said a little loudly. Quickly, he used the hand he was holding his gun with to put the trapping gum on Mabel's hand. She looked at him in surprise and then at the gum.

"Look at me Mabel!" he shouted again. "I said… everything is gonna be fine."

Mabel nodded, and without looking down, she introduced the candy on the rifle.

Dipper smiled. "Trust me." He told her. "Because I trust you." He said slowly.

Soos had a strange feeling. "Okay, that's it! Hand over all the guns…"

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Dipper turned around faster than light. He aimed at Soos and fired sparks.

Soos knew deep inside him that something like this was gonna happen. That's why he was fast enough to dodge the shot and lift Dipper on the air with a move of his arm. He was so fast that the sparks hadn't even exploded by the time Dipper was already struggling above the floor. However, he wasn't faster than Mabel, which with the ability of a veteran sniper aimed at the empty space where he was moving to and fired her long distance rifle.

Soos heard a shot coming from a toy gun. The sparks exploded and through the glowing he saw something coming to him. It hit him on the chest, and next second, he felt again that strawberries scent.

Soos fell to the floor covered in gum. He was near Stan and as him, he was trapped. Dipper fell from a low altitude. He stood up quickly and looked in front of him.

"I can't believe it worked!" He said.

"I can't believe it worked!" Mabel said with big eyes.

The cloth around Stan's mouth also fell. "Whoa, kids, don't you dare to give me such a scare again! I'm an old person, you know?"

"Sorry Grunkle Stan." Dipper told him as he approached Mabel. "Are you okay?" He asked her.

"Yeah, I think so. That was a lucky shot, wasn't it?" She said.

"I knew that if anyone could do it, it had to be you."

"Yeah well, imagine what I'd do if I had time to concentrate." She laughed.

"Wow guys!" Bloomscorch joined them. "Have you ever considered acting as a career?"

"What do you mean?" Dipper said. "We weren't acting."

The monster was a little confused. Dipper decided to discuss it later. "Your guns, team" He said. They picked up their weapons and advanced to Soos carefully.

When they were close to him, Soos looked at Dipper. "You know something, Dipper." He said very seriously. "You are starting to become really annoying."

"Well, you have threatened my family twice tonight." Dipper told him. "So I don't care." He grabbed a package of Smile Dip and opened the soda container of his gun.

"If you come any closer kid, I can't respond for your uncle's safety… or for the rest of your family." Soos said.

"Stop playing with us Soos, it's over for you." Dipper walked to him.

He hadn't advanced a foot when an invisible force pushed him violently. He fell backwards, just like Mabel and Bloomscorch. Dipper was confused. He hadn't seen any glow on Soos' eyes.

"How… how are you doing this?" He asked.

Soos shook his head. "You have to understand, children. I have been waiting for this day since I have memory. All the night, I have been preparing for this moment. I never used all the energy I received. And even trapped in here, I'm gonna start with tonight's show."

"Well, forget about it!" Dipper stood up. "We are gonna finish you now!" He charged towards Soos, but he was thrown to the floor again.

Mabel ran to Dipper and helped him up. She faced Soos. "What is it that you want to do with our uncle? Tell us now, Soos!"

Soos smiled. "Oh, now you want to listen to me. Well, let me tell you. What Stan is hanging over is what remains of my design to make the Mystery Shack more famous and richer than you could ever imagine. And guess who's gonna be the one who will do all this. That's right! Our beloved boss. It's you, Stan. How cool is that?" He yelled at Stan.

"The shack was good enough until you showed up!" The old man answered.

"We know all the attractions on the shack are weird and astonishing." Soos went on. "But they lack of something. I thought and thought, and I concluded what they lacked was the human factor. I mean, a dinosaur or a swamp monster, they are cool, but what If they were more… human? What if a man, a real man, had those wings on his back?"

"This doesn't sound good." Bloomscorch said.

"What if he had horns, or four arms, or a tail, but he remained a human? There's no such a thing in real life. So, I decided to create one."

Dipper knew where this was going.

"You are gonna put him wings and a tail?!" Mabel asked in horror.

"A tail?! Four arms?!" Stan repeated also scared.

"Hahahahahaaha!" Soos laughed maniacally. "That's right ladies and gentlemen! You have seen jackalopes! You have seen Big Foot! You have even seen those tiny stupid bottled beings on the gift shop! But you have never seen… The Mystery Chimera Man!"

The kids and the monster realized what really was on Soos' mind. Now they knew why he needed those stuffed animals Stan had brought from the storage room. The mirrors were also going to be used to do it. Soos wasn't going to eliminate Stan. He was going to do something worst.

"We have to give him the Smile Dip right now!" Dipper yelled.

"But we can't get close to him! The gum is holding him, but he still can use some of his powers." Bloomscorch told him.

Dipper took his Sparks gun. "He won't be able to concentrate with candy raining on his face."

"Oh, don't think about it, guys." Soos yelled at them. "I can't let you interrupt me while I'm preparing everything. But, hey! Don't worry. You will have the chance to use your little toy guns!"

They felt a slight vibration of the room. Then, a glow appeared near the wall on their left. It wasn't the typical green low. This one was a white and blue light, which moved towards the huge 'Sascrotch' and surrounded it.

The twins and the monster saw in astonishment as the giant creature opened its eyes and step out of the platform it was standing on. It started to walk towards them. The kids and Bloomscorch moved back. They heard a strange noise behind them, and turned around in time to see the Six-pack O' Lope breaking the pieces of metal that held its feet to the ground.

"Oh! I was wondering if you could let me use your camera Dipper!" Soos closed his eyes and the green glowing appeared on his face. Dipper's camera abandoned him and flew to Soos. He smiled with his eyes still closed. The device floated to Stan's forehead and the straps tied to his head. "It's just a terrific idea to record this. Take good shots Stan!"

The Sascrotch stopped right in front of them. It didn't move. Dipper and Mabel weren't sure of what to do. Suddenly, the big ape raised an arm and let it fall to the ground. The twins jumped to one side in time to avoid being crushed.

"Hahahahahahah!" Soos laughed. "I hope you are ready dudes! Because from this moment, there's no going back!"

The museum started to tremble. All the doors and windows closed loudly. The wood around them creaked and the frames broke, making it impossible to open them. A sound was heard from the gift shop, and the same stone disk that had blocked the outside door earlier crashed on the curtained door to the museum. Soos moved inside his gum prison. He was still trapped, but he didn't seem to have any difficulty to turn his body directly to them. The two mystical creatures moved closer as they shone in white and blue light.

"It's a little sample of what I'll do with Stan. Also, it will distract you while I get rid of this gum and get your Grunkle ready. "

Dipper looked at the Sascrotch and then at Soos. He tightened his guns, one on each hand. "Not if we take care of you first!" He shouted and in a second fired at the creature face. It closed its eyes and let go a roar. Dipper went around it and ran to Soos pointing the gun at him. Soos didn't worry.

All of a sudden, something passed flying over Dipper's head. He stopped and raised his head to see what looked like a giant bird near the roof in front of him. It was the big Pterosaur that was always on a pole at the entrance of the museum. It made a turn in the air and came back to him. Dipper ducked on time and felt the body of the thing over his hair. He smiled and held his gun, but a second later he heard something behind him.

"Woah!...Dipper!"

Dipper turned back and searched for Mabel, but she was already in the claws of the beast. It flew with her to the other side of the museum and there it let her fall between some boxes.

"Ouch! Hey, careful! Don't you see I'm a lady?" Mabel shouted at the dinosaur's face. It responded with a loud shriek on her face.

"Okay... I get it... Ahhhh!" Mabel screamed.

"No! Mabel!" Dipper was too far from her. He turned to Soos. "You!... I'm gonna…."

"Just try to survive. The three of you." Soos told him, smiling evilly. "I still need you to give me one little thing."

Dipper had more important things to worry than the journal right now. He glared at Soos with fury, and ran back where Bloomscorch was.

"I'm so sorry Dipper! It was too fast!" The monster told him.

"Let's just go for her!" Dipper was about to run to Mabel when the Six-pack O' Lope landed in front of him. The thing put its fists in front of its face like it was a boxer. Dipper was a little shocked by it, but quickly remembered he had two guns. He moved his right arm, but before he could aim, the creature threw away his gun with one punch and sent another one to his face.

Dipper fell to the floor. He reached for his secondary gun and when he grabbed it, the mythical creature put a foot on it. It lowered his hand to Dipper's neck and that's when it received a shot of sparks from Bloomscorch. It turned to the monster, who fired again at its face.

"Go and help Mabel! I'll take care of this one!" He told him.

The animal forgot about Dipper and moved to Bloomscorch. Dipper didn't think twice and picked up his weapons before running to Mabel.

The Pines girl was having a hard time trying to get away from the Pterosaur's bill. Unfortunately, she had dropped her rifle while she was in the air and had no other option but to crawl between old furniture and boxes in order to avoid being eaten.

Mabel finally reached a wall. There was nowhere else to go. The beast made its way to her. She crawled under an old desk and the animal started to hit it with its beak. Mabel held onto the desk hoping that it wouldn't turn around.

"Hey! Dinosaur!" Dipper yelled at the thing from behind it. "You have a bill! Why don't you mess with someone who also has a weapon?"

The Pterosaur saw him and shrieked at him. But then, it turned around to continue with its work.

"Dipper! Behind you!"

Mabel yelled so loud that Dipper instinctively jumped to his left side. A totem pole landed on the spot he was seconds ago, and it made a big hole on the floor. He turned around and saw the Sascrotch coming to him fast. The thing just tried to crush him with a heavy pole, and now it was going for him again. Dipper had to think faster.

"Mabel, catch!" Dipper tossed his soda gun to her. Then he ran in another direction.

The gun had landed really near to Mabel, but she was busy maintaining her wooden shield in one piece. She tried to pick up the gun, but the dinosaur took the desk with its hands and tried to lift it, so she had to do the same and pull.

Dipper got behind another totem pole, which was intact, and checked his ammo. There was plenty of Sparks to beat this big guy and then to go help Mabel. In fact, there was enough to take down all the three creatures. Then, he'd go for Soos. His thoughts were interrupted when the pole was broken by the Sascrotch. He aimed and shot. Sparks flew to its face and it roared in anger.

Bloomscorch dodged another fist from the antelope-like thing. He had the impression he was fighting with a boxer kangaroo. Because of his low height, he had managed to move between its legs and confuse it. He shot it each time the thing missed a hit.

"Come on! Try again!" The antelope punched again to the air. Bloomscorch fired at its head.

"Haha! I guess being taller is not helping you this time!"

The antelope stood still for a moment. Then, it tried to punch again. The Monster got between the animal's legs again, but when he got behind it, he received a strong kick that sent him several feet away.

"Oh boy." He said lying face up. He looked at the antelope, which was looking down and taping the floor with one foot. Bloomscorch stood up. "Better not to get close to those legs again."

The animal bent its legs and took a long jump. It landed in front of him.

"Oh boy." Bloomscorch said before being kicked again.

...  
...

Soos hadn't been able to look away from the fighting scene in front of him for a while. He was really enjoying it, but he knew he had work to do.

"I hope you're recording all this, Stan." He said. "Because I'd love to watch it later."

You're crazy, Soos!" Stan yelled at him. "And those are the most valuable attractions in the museum! You could've picked others!"

"Don't worry. When all this ends, you'll never need any other attraction."

Soos narrowed his eyes and the pile of mirrors near the wall started to vibrate. Three mirrors elevated in the air and went to replace the ones broken by Dipper.

"Time for our friends to join us." Soos said.

From the darkest spot of the museum, six stuffed animals levitated to Soos. They were a big Andean condor, a moose's head, a beaver, a small crocodile, a wolf, and a mountain lion. They all were sent to rest on one mirror each one.

"Take a good look at your new friends, Stan. For you'll have to spend the rest of your life with them."

Stan looked around him with concern. "Look Soos, this is not a good idea. Believe me. I tried once to make a chimera, and the people didn't buy it. It looked so wrong to them! Because… this is wrong! You hear me?"

"Well, I think mine will look more real once I have make this guys come to live." He said smiling.

Stan looked at the mirrors below the animals, and then he looked at the one below him. He felt scared.

"You could've avoided all this, Stan." Soos told him, looking at him in the eyes. "If only you had given me a little respect… If only you had said you were sorry…"

Soos' stare made Stan really uncomfortable. He had to look away.

Soos let out a little laugh. "Okay! This will take some time. Just don't freak out… yet"

He closed his eyes for some seconds. When he opened them, they were emitting a white and blue light. The same glow surrounded the stuffed animals, which started to float in the air.

...  
...

Mabel was just inches to touch the gun Dipper had tossed her. The dinosaur was now hitting the desk with its head. Mabel was able to spot Dipper near the other wall.

Her brother ran between boxes and other attractions to avoid being smashed by the Sascrotch's fists. He made little stops to fire his gun.

The ape hit the floor in front of Dipper, who stopped immediately. He saw the other fist falling down to him and rolled under the Sascrotch body to escape from it. He shot at the Sascrotch's neck. It only made it grunt.

"This isn't working." He said to himself. "We need to join forces if we want to win."

"Move, kid!" Bloomscorch came running and tackled him. They fell to the ground and behind them the antelope landed. They both shot at it, making it fell to the floor too.

"The thing is more a kangaroo than an antelope!" He told Dipper.

"Then it's good you're here! We totally have to fight together if we want… move!"

He pushed him to the ground and they dodged the Sascrotch's fist. The animal's arm got stuck on the floor this time.

"What about Mabel?" Bloomscorch asked.

Dipper pointed at her. "She's got her own problems."

Mabel heard the wood of the desk creak. It wasn't going to resist much time. She saw her brother and the monster fighting back to back against two creatures. They couldn't help her. Actually, they needed her help. She had to do something by herself.

She looked at the soda weapon. "Alright, monster bird. Bring it on!"

The Pterosaur banged its head some more times against the wood, and then, it hit with its bill, which broke the desk in two pieces. Mabel stretched her arm all she could and grabbed the gun.

The dinosaur used its hands to push away the wood. As soon as it did it, it saw Mabel's gun on its face. She fired, and the big reptile fell backwards. Mabel stood up and ran to her team.

"There has to be a way to stop them!" Dipper said as he fired again.

"I think they'll stop as soon as we are dead." Bloomscorch responded. He was reloading his sparks gun.

"Dipper! Bloomscorch!" Mabel came running.

"Mabel! How did you escaped from the pterosaur?" Her brother asked her.

"It was pretty easy. I totally creamed him! Now, he won't be a problem."

"You mean THAT won't be a problem?" Bloomscorch said pointing behind her. The Pterosaur was starting to stand up.

"Well, I…"

"No time! Run!" Dipper yelled as they saw the Sascrotch almost over them. They moved away to escape from its big foot, which landed loudly on the floor.

The three of them fired at him. The Sascrotch roared. It took its hands to its face and rubbed it.

"Together we can make more damage." Dipper said. "But we can't attack them while they're also together. We have to find a way to…"

The Six-pack O' Lope landed right in the middle of them. It took Mabel with one of its hands, or paws.

"Gah! Let me go!"

"Mabel!" Dipper didn't use his gun. Instead, he jumped on the animal's back and started to punch it. The antelope let go Mabel.

Far from there, the Pterosaur was recovering from the discharge of soda that hit it directly on its face. It looked at the battle that was taking place in front of it. The beast opened its mouth and shrieked.

The antelope jumped and shook his head violently to get rid of Dipper. He was still punching it.

"Dipper, let go!" Mabel yelled.

"I…I think…ahhhh! I think….I can bring him down!"

Bloomscorch and Mabel weren't able get a shot. They were aiming at the chest of the animal when two big legs stood behind them. They looked up and jumped to one side, but the Sascrotch didn't try to crush them. Instead, it stared at Dipper on top of the antelope. Soon, the smaller creature stopped moving and looked back at the giant ape.

Dipper had a crazy idea. He held strong to the neck of the Six-pack O' Lope and shot the Sascrotch on its face. The big guy roared again and tried to smash Dipper. The antelope realized this and jumped away from the fist that almost hit it. Dipper fired again, and again, and again at the Sascrotch, which got angrier and started to chase the confused antelope.

"You two can finish that reptile! I'll be fine! Just go!" Dipper yelled at his team.

"B-but Dipper!" Mabel said. They hesitated for a moment, but when another fist of the Sascrotch broke the floor near them, they did as he said.

They ran to the Pterosaur. "How exactly are we gonna finish him?" Mabel asked the monster.

"Just fire at him with all you have!"

"Okay… but where is it anyway?"

They stopped since there was no dinosaur on sight.

"Well" Bloomscorch said. "Maybe it got scared." As soon as he finished speaking, the Pterosaur came flying and picked him up.

"Mabeeeeeel!"

"Oh, crud!" She said.

The thing didn't fly far from there. It just made circles in the air, moving its feet and shaking Bloomscorch. Soon, he dropped his guns and the dinosaur dropped him as well.

"Ahhhhhh!"

"Don't worry! I got you!" Mabel ran quickly and in time to catch the monster.

"Thanks!" Bloomscorch said. He searched for the animal. "Hey, he has my weapons!"

They saw the Pterosaur approached the guns on the floor. It immediately took one of them on its mouth.

"Noooooo!" Both Mabel and Bloomscorch shouted, but it was too late. The reptile closed its mouth and broke it into pieces. Next, it took the other gun.

"Nooooooooo!" Bloomscorch let out a loud cry and charged towards the Pterosaur. He jumped to it and held to its beak with both arms. The animal shook its beak. Bloomscorch tried to take his gun. Unfortunately, the Pterosaur tried to put it out of his reach and swallowed it. The monster watched in shock.

The beast shook its head and Bloomscorch let go and was thrown to Mabel, who caught him again.

"I lost them! How could I?!" The monster regretted.

"Uh, Bloomscorch?" Mabel said. The big reptile advanced walking to them.

"What… Shoot him! Shoot him now!"

Mabel fired many times. The Pterosaur hid his head from the bursts and they landed on the rest of its body. But then, the animal used its wings as cover and started to walk to Mabel.

"It's not working!" She shouted.

The reptile advanced slowly, but the Hypermint powered soda wasn't making any effect. They didn't notice they were being pushed against a wall until they had nowhere to retreat.

"We need something more powerful!" Mabel said.

Bloomscorch heard this and knew they had no other choice. "Use the Smile Dip!"

"But it's for Soos!" The Pterosaur was only some feet away.

"Use it now or we won't see him or anyone else again!"

Mabel took out a package of Smile Dip. Bloomscorch grabbed it and poured a little inside Mabel's gun while she continued to fire short loads. The weapon vibrated on the girl's hands and it started to shake so violently that it was difficult for her to hold it.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!" Shouted Mabel.

"What are you doing? Fire!"

The Pterosaur, feeling no more soda being fired at it, removed its wings from its face and shrieked loudly. Then, it charged towards Mabel and Bloomscorch.

"Eat Smile Dip! You giant nose!"

She pulled the trigger. A little amount of luminous liquid was fired from the gun at an incredible speed. It hit the dinosaur with such strength its body flew and crashed into a wall, and there it stayed a second before falling to the floor.

The powerful shot was noticed by Soos, who hadn't yet gotten rid of the gum.

"What the heck was that?" He asked himself.

Despite the dinosaur had been seriously damaged, it wasn't out of combat. It stood up, let out a roar, and advanced one more time to Mabel.

"Oh no! Stay back!" Mabel yelled at it, hoping it would stop, which it didn't.

She noticed a wooden post that had been probably hit by the Sascrotch. Sharp pieces of wood came out from it. It was between her and the dinosaur, which was approaching quickly.

She pointed the gun at the post. "Sorry buddy." She said. "You wanted it this way."

As soon as the Pterosaur was in front of the post, Mabel fired again. The blast sent it to the post in a blink of an eye, and the sharp wood went through its body. The fake stuffed animal let out a final shriek and it stopped moving.

Soos couldn't ignore this. He was a little shocked by it and something inside him told him this could represent a problem.

"Mabel! You did it!" Bloomscorch came running to her.

"Yeah" She smiled widely. "Yeah! I did it! I really kicked his but this time! I…"

A loud scream was heard. "Ahhhhhhhhh! Let me go!"

It was Dipper. Somehow the Six-pack O' Lope had grabbed him and thrown him to the floor, from where the Sascrotch lifted him by one leg.

"You get your gun back and follow me!" Mabel told the monster as she reloaded her soda gun using her spare bottle. Then she ran to save her brother. Bloomscorch approached the lifeless body of the dinosaur. He saw a part of his gun sticking out of the animal's body. He took it. It was the Sparks gun.

"Oh man, this looks bad." Dipper said as the Sascrotch was taking him to its mouth.

A blast of what seemed to be a laser gun hit the creature's arm. It opened its hand and let Dipper fall. He looked fast and saw Mabel. She shot the Sascrotch once again.

"Mabel?! What in the world is that thing?!"

"Smile Dip, bro!"

Bloomscorch came running. "It turns out that this combination is something really powerful!" He said.

"I hope it has enough power, guys." Mabel said firing one more time. "Because I just had to use my only spare bottle."

"Here!" Bloomscorch handed her one more bottle. "I have another and Dipper has the last one. Which means you can only use two. The third one is for Soos only."

The antelope appeared behind Dipper. "I'll handle this guy! You take care of that ape!" He said.

They nodded and resumed their firing. Dipper faced the antelope. "Now, it'll be a fair fight, buddy." He aimed and fired. There was no shot though. Dipper's gun was empty.

"Come on! Again?!" He looked at the animal. "Hehe, maybe a little break to relo….."

A quick punch threw his gun away. Another one hit him on the face.

"Owww" He moaned and fell to the floor again. The antelope hit its own chest with both its hooves, as a sign of victory. Dipper considered running, but there wasn't really a place to hide. _Not this time, man. _He thought.

He stood up and held his fists in front of him, just like a box fighter. "Let's see what you got, deer boy"

The antelope let fall a rain of punches over his face, stomach and rib cage. Dipper wasn't able to respond or even move because of the pain.

_Endure Dipper, Endure! _He told himself. He took a few steps back. Feeling dizzy, he put his hands over his belly and looked down. The antelope lowered its guard. All of a sudden Dipper hit him hard under its chin.

"Yeah!" He told the animal. "It's gonna be a tough fight!" They started to throw and dodge punches like professional boxers.

Mabel had managed to make the Sascrotch retreat several steps. But she was getting worried about what she would do when she ran out of soda. She abandoned these thoughts when she pulled the trigger and nothing happened.

"What? It's still full!"

"Mabel, watch out!" Bloomscorch shouted. The Sascrotch had an angry look on its face. It lowered its hand to Mabel.

She aimed and shot, but nothing happened. "It's stuck!"

Bloomscorch jumped to her and pushed her away, firing Sparks at the same time. The projectiles hit the ape on its underwear.

They landed hard on the floor. "Thanks!" She said. Then, they heard a loud moan of pain. They looked at the Sascrotch, which had both hands over his underwear.

Mabel grinned. "Oh, so you have the same weak spot Dipper has! Ha ha! Funny!"

Just then, she remembered her brother and turned around. She couldn't believe her eyes when she saw Dipper.

Her twin brother was in a real hand to hand fight with the Six-pack O' Lope, punching and dodging and crouching. Darn, he even was delivering some good hits at the deer's face.

The antelope was increasing the strength and speed of its punches. However, Dipper was good at dealing with difficult situations under pressure, and he had turned to be a pretty good boxer.

The animal breathed furiously. All of a sudden it lowered its head and it struck Dipper with its horns.

He was caught off guard and fell again to the floor. "Hey! That wasn't fair! I thought we were boxing here!"

The animal tried to kick him with its feet. Dipper moved away and standing up he shielded behind a big wooden chest.

"I guess this means no rules anymore!" The animal was trying to reach him from the other side of the chest. Dipper looked down and saw he was in convenient spot. He lifted the chest's lid, and it hit the antelope on the face, causing it to fell backwards. "We're even" He said.

Dipper looked down again and put his hand inside the chest. He took out an old and rusty nineteenth century sword.

"Now, it's fair again. You have your horns, and I have this!" He said holding the sword and taking a few steps back.

The Six-pack O' Lope looked inside the chest. He also put his hoof inside it and took out a much larger sword.

"What?! Wait… Where did you get that? I didn't see… Oh, man!"

The antelope swung the sword at Dipper and he blocked the attack. They started a little sword clash. The antelope's sword was bigger and heavier, and Dipper felt it with every attack he blocked.

"And of course, ah!... the bad guy, ah!... always has the best weapon!" He struggled to repel the attacks as he was forced to walk backwards. "Luckily… I had some practice on this… ugh! when I fought that psycho wax Sherlock Holmes, ahhh!"

He blocked again and quickly swung his sword near the antelope's head, cutting out a piece of its horn.

Mabel and Bloomscorch were minding their own business, trying to set the Sascrotch up.

"Hit me! Come on!" the monster yelled at it. The Sascrotch saw him and ran towards him.

They had prepared some strings they found to trap the creature by its feet. The ropes were set on a spot in front of Bloomscorch, who had already gotten the creature's attention. When the Sascrotch was on position, the monster shot him on the underwear. It stopped immediately because of the pain. Mabel pulled the strings and they trapped one of his legs.

The ape looked down and tried to get away. "You're not gonna make it, buddy." She shot him with Smile Dip at its face. The Sascrotch lost its balance and start to fall. Bloomscorch ran away as fast as he could.

"He's going down!" He screamed. Mabel jumped to one side too.

The creature crashed into one wall, which collapsed loudly.

Mabel had gotten on the ground and had her hands over her head. She opened her eyes and all she could see was dust. When it started to fade, she walked to the wall, looking for the candy monster. She kicked something with her foot.

"Oh! There you are my precious Long Distance Rifle!" She picked it up and made sure it was loaded.

Then she looked at the Sascrotch. Its head was outside the Shack and he was moving a little.

"What happened here?"

"He's stuck in there!" Bloomscorch said appearing on her side. "It didn't work as we planned, but we did it anyway!"

"Yeah!" said Mabel.

They high fived. "Two on our count, Bloomscorch! I wonder how Dipper is doing."

They looked through the fading dust and saw Dipper with a sword in hand.

"Hey, Dip! We took care of the Sascrotch!... What are you doing with that sword?!"

Dipper looked at her, but he had to raise his sword again to block the antelope's. Mabel and Bloomscorch stared with huge eyes.

"That's just great, guys!" Dipper shouted. "Would you mind helping me a little?"

The Sascrotch let out a roar. Mabel and Bloomscorch turned around. It put its hands on the floor and tried to get his head back into the shack. The wood around him was breaking.

"Hold on one sec, Dipper!" Mabel yelled. "Hey Bloom, we have to immobilize him with the strings!"

"Like I said, it's just great!" Dipper told himself. He was getting really exhausted.

Mabel and Bloomscorch got on top of the Sascrotch's body to tie strings around it.

The Six-pack O' Lope was pushing Dipper against a wall. He wasn't sure how much he was going to resist. _Just cut him! Cut him, Dip!_

He dodged a close hit and swung his sword at the antelope's head. This time he cut out almost all of one horn.

"Haha! That's what I'm talking about!" He yelled in joy.

The antelope frowned. It jumped over Dipper and landed behind him. Dipper turned around swinging, but the antelope was faster and with a powerful hit broke Dipper's old sword. It jumped again and used both of its legs to kick Dipper on the chest. He was tossed to the ground and slid for a long distance.

"Dipper!" Mabel, who had been watching the fight, abandoned her job and took her rifle.

The antelope approached Dipper wielding its sword. Dipper felt the fear of a painful death.

From her spot over the Sascrotch's body, Mabel aimed at the deer. It was almost over Dipper. Then, she noticed the big Moose Antler Chandelier hanging from the ceiling on top of them. She aimed directly at the chain that held the chandelier and fired a single shot.

The creature was already raising its sword over its head when it heard a noise above it. It looked up to see the moose antlers falling, and got crushed under them.

Dipper stood up immediately. The fake animal was still moving. He picked up the sword and removed the chandelier from the back of the stuffed creature.

"So, there you have your horns, buddy." And with that, he raised the sword over his head and cut the Six-pack O' Lope in half.

"Amazing!" Soos yelled from his spot on the gum pile. "You proved to be more than I could've ever expected, kids! Also your little friend. However, don't think that you have won."

"Don't listen to him kids!" Stan yelled at them. "You were awesome! And you kept the Sascrotch intact. Which is great, since it's the most expensive item here."

Dipper picked up his sparks gun and reloaded it. Then, he took a step to the front breathing heavily. They were now near to Soos and Stan. "And you're next, Soos."

"Oh, but let's not hurry. You have to finish with this part first."

The giant Sascrotch suddenly stood up, breaking the wall it had been trapped in. Bloomscorch fell to the floor, but Mabel got entangled with the strings. As the big ape moved, the rope around Mabel tightened and her body was pressed against the creature.

"Whoa! No! No!"

"Mabel! Jump!" Dipper yelled.

"I'd do it if I could move!" she responded.

"I think I myself will lead this last charge." Soos said as his eyes started to shine again.

The Sascrotch was surrounded by white and blue light. It smiled evilly and started to hit things on the floor. There was nothing Mabel could do to free herself. She only screamed. Bloomscorch tried to grab a rope on the ground. He was hit by the mind controlled Sascrotch. The monster landed near Dipper.

"You okay?" Dipper helped him.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm already used to this."

"Good. Now try your best to distract that thing." He held his gun in one hand and the sword in the other.

"What? What are you gonna do?"

Dipper advanced. "Let her go Soos!"

"It's not me the one that has her on his back!" Soos said laughing.

"Alright, let's do this." Dipper said aiming his gun. He walked to the Sascrotch and shot to its head at the same time. The creature looked at the boy and laughed. Dipper didn't stop firing.

Bloomscorch appeared on the other side and fired also at the Sascrotch's face. The creature turned to the monster, still laughing loudly.

Dipper came closer to the thing some more feet and then called his partner.

"Hey Bloomscorch! Use this!" He unexpectedly tossed his gun to the monster. Bloomscorch caught it. "You're gonna need it more than me."

The monster smiled and aimed both of the guns. "Alright. Now this is firepower!" He said and fired two sets of Sparks bursts. The Sascrotch was stunned by the impact and the thousands of lights it saw.

Dipper took advantage of this and ran behind the creature. Once he was there, he clung to the Sascrotch hair. He started to climb to where Mabel was.

Bloomscorch shot more and more. At this point, the sparks ammo had notoriously decreased.

Dipper got to Mabel. "Get ready to jump!" He told her. She just nodded. Dipper cut the strings that tied Mabel. They both held to the Sascrotch's shoulder.

Bloomscorch spotted them and immediately shot at the creature's underwear. It let out a cry of pain. In that moment Dipper shouted to Mabel. "Now!"

They both jumped. However, only Dipper got to the floor. The Sascrotch caught Mabel in the last instant.

"Ahhhh! No! Stupid monkey! Let me go!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! "The creature laughed. It laughed like a person. Dipper turned to Soos. He was also laughing maniacally. In fact, he was the only one laughing. The fake animal was just a big disguise.

"No Mabel!" Stan yelled. "Soos! You're gonna regret if you hurt her!"

"Dipper!" Mabel yelled with her eyes closed.

"It's not that easy, Dipper!" Soos shouted at him.

The Sascrotch hit the boy with one hand. He crashed into a totem pole far away. Bloomscorch ran to him.

"Don't worry. I'm also getting used to this." Dipper said. He decided not to stand up for a moment.

"We can't defeat that thing! It's' too big and strong."

"Yeah." Dipper said. He was still holding his sword. "Then, we'll have to destroy it."

"Or immobilize him."

"How are we supposed to do that?"

Bloomscorch took out something from his pocket. It was a piece of trapping gum. "I thought it was a good idea to save one for the very end." He gave it to the boy.

Dipper looked at the gum. "No man, that's not gonna work. The thing is really big. Besides, Mabel will also get trapped on it."

"Well, what else do you have in mind? It's worth to the try!"

"If only we had explosives, we'll blow it up sky high."

"Explosives?" Bloomscorch said. "Maybe we can…"

The Sascrotch grabbed the totem pole with both hands, and took it out of the floor. Bloomscorch fired a load at its underwear. They ran and took cover behind some stuffed jackalopes.

"Alright, new plan." Dipper said. "Maybe I can let him eat me. Then, I can destroy him from the inside with the sword."

Bloomscorch wasn't really paying attention. He was examining his ammunition. But that didn't stop him from realizing it was a stupid idea.

"No. First, it would chew on you before swallowing. Second, it would not swallow the sword."

"Yeah, well. It's the first thing I got"

"Yet we are gonna give that thing something to eat, or drink."

"What?"

Bloomscorch opened his last bottle of Inca's Golden Bubbles Cola. Then he emptied his Sparks gun, and popped a good amount of Sparks into the soda. He closed the bottle and handed it to Dipper.

"Shake it, open it a little, and we'll have a boom" He said.

"Are you sure?" Dipper asked.

"This soda seems to increase the effect of whatever is submerged on it. Just put it inside his mouth and you and Mabel get away."

Dipper took the bottle. He looked at the Sascrotch, which was searching for them.

"I guess I'll have to surprise him or something like that."

Bloomscorch reloaded the guns. "Yeah well, I'll take care of it." He said standing up. "Just tell me when you're in position."

With that said Bloomscorch came out from behind the jackalopes and ran to the Sascrotch, which took Dipper by surprise.

The monster waved his arms on the air. "Hey giant monkey! I'm over here!"

The Sascrotch noticed him and charged. Bloomscorch responded firing bursts of his last charge of Sparks.

Dipper wasn't so sure about it, but he knew he had to move. He ran to the Sascrotch too. He wielded his sword with one hand, and with the other one he held the bottle of soda. He got behind the creature. It was trying to catch Bloomscorch. Mabel was trapped in one of its hands.

"Dipper! Get me down, guys! This jerk is squeezing too hard!"

The Sascrotch saw Dipper and tried to crush him with a fist. Dipper jumped aside. Bloomscorch shot it again on the head, but it kept trying to catch the boy. Dipper stood up. When he did it, he saw Mabel's soda gun on the floor. He put the bottle on his vest pocket and took the gun. The creature sent another hit. Dipper jumped again and shot the soda. It struck the Sascrotch hard on the face. The gun almost fell from his hands.

"Wow!" Dipper said looking at the gun. "This thing is really powerful."

He noticed the bottle on his vest had started to vibrate. He needed to hurry. The Sascrotch attacked him again, and again he fired. Bloomscorch fired from behind it several times. The creature turned to him roaring.

Dipper took the chance and jumped to the furry back of the beast. He had secured the straps of the gun around his neck.

"What are you up to, guys?" Soos yelled at them. "You have already tried that!"

Dipper got to the Sascrotch's shoulder.

"Okay, Dip. You asked for it." Soos said.

His eyes glowed, and the ape glowed as well. It raised his arm and tried to catch Dipper. He dodged its hand. Then, he held to the beast's neck fur and wielded his sword. The Sascrotch attacked again and Dipper did the same. He cut out one of its fingers. The creature roared and shook its head trying to get rid of the boy.

At the same time, Bloomscorch was firing his almost depleted Sparks Nyarfs, trying to divert the creature's attention from Dipper.

"Go Dipper, go!" Mabel cheered her brother. "Aghhh…it's pressing so hard!"

"Yeah, Dipper! Go on!" Said Soos smiling. "If you survive, we have to repeat this every week! Hahahaha!"

Dipper got on the other side of the Sascrotch's neck. He was next to the arm that held Mabel prisoner. He took the soda bottle from his vest. It was shaking violently. He looked at Mabel, then at his sword.

"Bloomscorch!" He called the monster. "If you have something in your mind, now is the time!"

The monster nodded and aimed at the Sascrotch underwear. He fired. The creature roared, but then, it laughed surrounded in white glowing.

"Hahahahahahaa!" Soos laughed. "That's your big plan? I think I overestimated you!"

Bloomscorch turned to Soos all of a sudden, who was not too far from him. He aimed at his eyes and pulled the triggers.

"Oh…that…" Soos said before the candy exploded on his face.

"Ahahahahaha!" Stan laughed. "On your face, Soos!"

Dipper saw how the glowing around the Sascrotch vanished. He acted in a matter of seconds. After shaking the bottle violently, he opened it just a little, and got over the ape's head. The soda sprayed all over Dipper's hand and the container shone. The Sascrotch roared in pain one more time. Dipper leaned and threw the bottle into the ape's mouth.

Bloomscorch saw the whole thing and ran away.

"What on earth guys…" Soos blinked repeatedly and tried to figure out what was happening. The impact of the sparks had left him out of combat for a few seconds, and his mask was now very loosened.

"What was that?!" Mabel yelled at her brother.

Dipper screamed and jumped off the animal's head to Mabel. Still in the air he swung the sword and cut out the hand that held her. They fell to the floor. Mabel was free at last.

Soos finally recovered his vision. "What did I miss?!"

"Come on!" Dipper grabbed Mabel's hand and ran.

He was able to take only one step before the body of the Sascrotch exploded with a tremendous boom. The impact of the blast sent everything around flying through the air. Dipper and Mabel's hands separated. Bloomscorch took cover behind whatever he could. Soos and Stan were blinded again by millions of sparks.

The dust and debris filled the museum for some seconds. When everything was clear again, Dipper found himself lying on the floor. He had been tossed several feet away from the explosion site. In front of him he saw Soos, who seemed to have passed out inside the gum. Then, he looked for Mabel. Beside him was his sword. He still had the gun around his neck. But there was no Mabel.

He sat using his arms. He looked at the place where the Sascrotch was. Only the feet of the stuffed animal remained on their spot. He searched with his eyes all over the museum.

"Hey bro! Up here!" Dipper heard Mabel's voice. He looked up in that direction and saw her. Apparently the blast had sent her up and when falling, her night gown had caught on some nails on the wooden structure. She was now hanging from a beam on the ceiling.

"Mabel!" Dipper yelled with happiness.

Bloomscorch get out of his hideout and came to Dipper. "I told you it would work." He said.

"Yeah…" Dipper said looking back. "Better than I imagined."

"Sorry to be annoying, but could you get me down… again, please?" Mabel shouted.

They heard somebody coughing.

"Ohhh…t-that was…oohh…so unexpected." They saw Soos in the middle of the gum.

Grunkle Stan was also hanging from the ceiling. He had a blank expression on his face. His eyes were fixed on one spot: the place where his Sascrotch had just disintegrated. Amazingly, the camera was still on his forehead. A red light on it indicated it was recording.

He finally noticed the monster and the twins. "Kids! You're alive!"

Soos looked on their direction. For some reason, that phrase instantly made him feel angry. He looked at Dipper and Bloomscorch, then at Mabel, and finally at the Sascrotch feet.

"Alright! This is going to end now!" He said and started to move violently inside the gum. His eyes ignited in green light.

Dipper felt how the strength came back to his body. He quickly took the gun off his neck and grabbed the sword. "You're so right, Soos!" He ran towards him.

Soos saw him coming. He closed his eyes and prepared to stop him. Dipper had predicted this. He raised his arm and with all his strength he stuck the sword on the wooden floor. He crouched and held on tightly to it and successfully resisted Soos' wave of invisible energy, which pushed Bloomscorch to the ground.

Soos didn't have enough time to completely drop his jaw, since Dipper shot him a burst of soda and stunned him. Then, the kid ran again, holding in his left hand a package of Smile Dip, and when he got near Soos, he hit him with the back of his gun, removing the mask from his face.

"Aghhh! Kid!" Soos roared like an animal, moving furiously inside the gum.

Dipper got behind him and climbed to his head. He put his legs around Soos' neck. Then he stuck the gun on his mouth.

"Nhmm! Shhtop!"

Soos' words weren't clear. Suddenly, he took out one arm, breaking the gum. He tried to grab Dipper, but the boy fought with his own free arm.

"Uh kill uuu!" Soos yelled.

"You!...Just let me put this…" The boy was literally hugging Soos' head in order to remain over it. Soos was strong. Dipper's hands were busy. He wasn't going to pour the Smile Dip on the gun.

"I'll hold him!" Bloomscorch came running and jumped to Soos' arm, lowering it. "Do it!"

Dipper opened the gun.

Soos moved his other arm inside the gum, and then he grabbed something he was looking for.

"Shtopp!"

Dipper poured the Smile Dip.

Soos' arm broke the gum. "Shtop r she diesh!

Dipper froze. _Stop or she dies_ sounded on his head. He instinctively looked for Mabel. She was still hanging from the ceiling. Her eyes had grown really wide and she was looking at them with her mouth open.

Dipper realized Soos' arm was pointing at her with something.

A gun. No… a grappling hook.

The strength on Dipper's body faded. Soos spitted the canon of the gun out of his mouth.

"Don't make a move!" He yelled at Dipper. "You too, Mabel! Don't even blink!"

"You bastard! Don't you dare!" Shouted Stan.

Dipper couldn't move. His terrified eyes were fixed on Mabel's.

"Little monster! Move back!" He yelled at Bloomscorch. The creature let go Soos' arm and retreated.

Dipper felt the gun vibrating on his hand. It was still close to Soos' mouth. Could he be faster than Soos?

"You know that by the time you do it, I will have already shot." Soos said as if he had read Dipper's mind.

Only then, he understood what this actually meant.

"I'm aiming directly at her forehead, Dipper! It will instantly kill her!"

These words paralyzed Dipper. He saw how Mabel's eyes filled with fear. An image formed on his mind. A horrible image.

"Drop the gun now." Soos said slowly.

It was happening. What he had feared the most during this night was happening. Mabel was in danger. In real danger.

"Dipper! Do as he says!" Stan yelled at him.

Dipper was trembling. He was breathing heavily. He was scared. He had never been so scared in his young life. He couldn't even order his body to open his hand and drop the gun.

"Dipper…" He saw Mabel's lips pronouncing his name. _No…Mabel…No…please!_

"Do it now!" Soos shouted and agitated the grappling hook.

Dipper threw the gun to the floor. He got down from Soos quickly and put himself between the grappling hook and Mabel.

"Okay! You win! You win!... Don't' do it! Don't hurt her!" He said with fear on his voice.

Soos hadn't stopped aiming at Mabel. "Little monster, take out that special soda that dissolves this gum and release me."

Bloomscorch was also shocked by what was happening, but he knew he had to obey. Things had now gone too far. He took out the cylinder of soda and approached Soos slowly.

"Make it quick. My fingers are getting tired, and I may lose control of them."

Bloomscorch heard it and hurried. He poured soda all over the remaining gum. Soos moved for a while and the gum fell to the floor. He came out of it still holding the grappling hook.

He walked to Dipper and lowered his head to him. Dipper swallowed. He froze again.

Soos moved his head to the left suddenly, and Dipper was pushed violently on that direction. He then raised his hand and Mabel came flying to him.

Dipper didn't land too far. He stood up to see Soos walking to him and Bloomscorch, with Mabel following him on the air.

"I can't believe we ended up fighting with toys." He said. "Now, that's over."

He raised one arm. The Nyarfs ascended from the floor. Both the Sparks guns and the soda gun floated in the air. Mabel's rifle did the same. Soos closed his hand and opened it, and all the weapons exploded in pieces. The pieces of plastic, the soda and the sparks fell upon Dipper, who was witnessing how their chances to survive this night were vanishing one by one. Without the guns, the soda and the Smile Dip were useless. The situation had reached a danger level that Dipper had considered, but never expected.

Soos was still holding the grappling hook. "It was really useful, Mabel." He told her without facing her. "Who would have known it? Hmhmhmhmhm"

He laughed and approached to Dipper. "Now, you. I can remember a certain book you took from me earlier. It was also really interesting. Would you mind handing it to me?"

Dipper could barely speak. "I-I don't h-have it… anymore."

"Oh come on, you always carry it with you." Soos got close to him and lifted Dipper's vest.

"Hmmmm. Where is it?"

"W-w… w-we sent it… away… f-from here."

Soos frowned. "Too bad."

He glanced at the grappling hook on his hand. He turned to Mabel on his back.

"You know, Mabel. I was gonna destroy this also, but I think I'll keep it. We can have so much fun with it!"

Mabel was also breathing heavily. Her face was covered in sweat and her expression was of absolute fear. Dipper could tell she was about to burst into tears when Soos' face came close to her again.

"Wouldn't you like that?" He whispered.

Dipper couldn't take it anymore.

"Leave her alone!" He yelled.

Soos turned back.

"Don't hurt her… please." Dipper was crying.

Soos looked at him for a moment. Then, pieces of mirror glass flew suddenly to the Pines girl. Just as it happened with Grunkle Stan, they surrounded Mabel's body. Only this time there were many more.

"No!" Dipper yelled. "Please Soos!"

"Why shouldn't I? I only need Stan!"

Mabel looked at the sharp glass around her. Now she was crying too.

"Nooooo! Soos!" Stan was struggling in the air.

"Consider it a part of my vengeance, Stan! Maybe I'll just cut her a little. An eye and an ear… It'll show you all I'm talking seriously!"

Dipper looked at Mabel in her eyes. She looked back at him.

Soos talked to the girl. "I'm sorry, Mabel. I really wanted that we have fun with the grappling hook but…"

"Stop it!"

Dipper yelled again. He spoke between sobs. "Stop it!... Stop it now!... No more... I'll tell you where it is!"

Soos turned to him. "Where's what?"

Dipper was looking down. "The journal… I'll give it to you."

Soos looked a little confused. "Okay… I'm listening to you."

"I'll give it to you… if you let her out from here."

Soos raised an eyebrow. "Let her out?"

Dipper nodded. "You let her out of the Shack." He raised his head and looked at him. "Then you'll have it."

"Didn't you say you had sent it away?"

"That's right, and I can have it back right now." Dipper walked to him. "But first you have to let her abandon the shack."

Soos thought for a second. "I don't know Dipper. You're not exactly in a position to negotiate. Why should I accept?"

Dipper took a deep breath. "Because you know you need that book. Without it you can finish what you have started… I can give it to you."

Soos thought again. Then he smiled. "You're right. I need it!" He laughed for a moment. Then he stopped and looked at him again. "But I was thinking, why not keep both Mabel and the book? In fact, now I'm thinking that you are gonna have to give me that book before something really bad happens to your sister."

Pieces of glass advanced to Mabel fast and stopped a few inches from her eyes and her throat.

"Dipper!" Stan called him. "Give him that stupid book! Now!"

Mabel looked at her brother. "D-D-Dipper…" She said in an almost inaudible voice. Dipper heard her though.

"You know inside you" Soos said. "That you can't risk her life."

Dipper felt sick. He felt he was going to faint. But he managed to take control of his body and mind.

"Yes. I wouldn't risk her life… But you're not gonna risk what you want either, are you? For one girl, Soos? Now listen to me…"

Soos stopped smiling. He was intrigued about what the boy had to say.

"You came here for something, right?" Dipper continued. "You can have it… you can have the journal right now. And you don't need to hurt Mabel. You said it yourself, you only need Stan… You don't need Mabel… She… she was always nice to you, remember that? She's the last person you may want to damage. Please Soos."

Dipper fell on his knees, crying. "Please! I'm begging you!... Let her go… and you can do whatever you want with us!"

Soos thought about what Dipper had said. It felt like a really long time had passed before he spoke again. "You're right. I don't need her." He moved one hand and the pieces of mirror fell down. "And I especially liked the last thing you said."

Soos lowered Mabel and placed her on the floor. As soon as she was released, she ran into Dipper's arms, still crying loudly. They hugged strongly for some moments.

Then Mabel looked at him. "W-what do we do now, Dip?"

Dipper stared at her. "Now, you escape from all this."

He raised his head. "Please, let her out." He asked Soos.

"The book first." Soos said.

Dipper looked back at Mabel and spoke. "B-Bloomscorch, give it to him."

Bloomscorch couldn't believe it. They had lost for sure now. He lowered his head in defeat.

"Please, buddy." Dipper said without stop staring at Mabel's eyes.

The monster nodded. At least one of them was gonna make it. He put his hand on his interdimentional pocket and extracted the journal. He walked to the twins and then looked at Soos.

"Here" He extended his arms.

Journal number three floated to Soos' hands. He opened it and examined it. Then, he pointed to a door in the wall next to the group. It creaked as the bended wood adopted its original position. Finally it opened. "There you go."

Mabel looked at it. Then, she turned to her twin. She lowered her voice. "Okay, what happens next? What's the plan Dipper?"

"There's no plan, Mabel." He put a hand on her cheek. "Run as fast as you can, don't turn back."

Mabel couldn't accept it. "No! I… I will not abandon you!" Mabel's breathing accelerated again.

"You're not abandoning me. There's nothing you can do Mabel." He made a pause and looked down. He was also having a hard time to breathe. But actually, he didn't know if he could look at her face one more time. "This is the best possible outcome of the situation." He said.

Tears were already falling down their faces. "You can think on something! You always do!...Don't give up…Dip…don't give up."

Dipper made an effort and raised his head. She was so scared. Her face was red and full of tears. He knew she was getting the same image from him. He caressed her cheek and ran his fingers through her long brown hair.

"I'm sorry." He said sobbing. "I can't… I always had this in my mind… I knew that if things got really bad….I would do this… I'm sorry… I… I… I can't save us all… just you."

Mabel looked down. It couldn't be happening. She knew Dipper was right. Either only she escaped or they all were doomed for sure. She took his face in her hands and looked at him.

"I'll come back for you." She said. "I'll come back for all you guys! I promise! I'll get some help… I'll get Wendy… I'll go to Gideon… to anyone… I'll save you."

Dipper smiled through his tears. "I know you'll be fine. And I know you'll find a way to stop him." He took both of her hands. "But to do that, you have to stay alive first."

Mabel took a deep breath and nodded. Dipper guided his sister to the door. They were still holding hands when they stopped. Mabel looked outside. Then she looked back at Grunkle Stan and at Bloomscorch. Finally, she looked one last time at Dipper. It was breaking her heart. Words couldn't form on her mouth.

"I-I-I….I lov-vv…I lov-y…"

"I know…" Dipper said.

Mabel fought against her emotions. "Dipper…I…I…I love you… "

Dipper squeezed her hands hard. "I… love you too… Mabel" And he kissed her on the forehead.

Then, they separated. Dipper managed to give her a final smile, which she returned.

"Oh, please stop!" Soos yelled suddenly. "If you don't stop now, I…I…I think I'm gonna start crying myself."

Dipper and Mabel turned to him in surprise, since they had been too concentrated on each other.

"Seriously kids, you don't have to keep doing it. This is getting much sappier than I thought it would be." Soos said covering his eyes with one hand.

The twins were confused. "W-what are you talking about?" Dipper asked.

"Never mind, I-I just have to put a halt to this now." Soos moved a hand towards the door. Dipper and Mabel watched in disbelief how it closed abruptly, and in a matter of seconds the wood was bent again and the exit had disappeared.

"What do you think you are doing?!" Dipper yelled.

"I'm sorry Dipper." Soos said. "I can't let Mabel leave this place. No one can leave."

"But we made a deal! You agreed!"

"Yeah, again I'm sorry. I lied to you."

Mabel grabbed onto Dipper's arm. The boy was trying to process what was happening.

"Just like you lied when you said you had sent the book away." Soos said again.

"That wasn't a lie!" Dipper said. "B-but it doesn't matter! You were going to let her go! You opened the door! What was all that about?!"

Soos giggled. "I just thought it was so funny you believed you could save your sister. I-I wanted to see what you would do. What you two would do." He laughed. "That was good, Dipper. Really. It's exactly how a brother should behave." Soos keep laughing.

Dipper started to breathe heavily again. All the hopes he had, all the strength he had gotten from knowing Mabel would be fine, they were now gone. Things were worst than ever, and this time, he had no idea what to do. His mind was still working though.

"Yes" He finally said. "And that's exactly what I did, Soos. So… w-why don't you do the same? Do what…what you should do….Let her go. You saw what you wanted to. Sh-she doesn't have to be here anymore. You said it…you don't need her…Sh-"

"Oh but I can't let her miss the spectacle." Soos said. "I want all of you to watch. That's why I brought you here!"

"But we made a deal…" Dipper said, frowning and turning his hands into fists. "We made a friggin deal, Soos!" He shouted loudly.

Dipper had no more fear on his face. He was angry.

"Stop it kid. I have already seen enough of your…"

"No! I kept my word! I gave you the journal! I gave you all that you needed for your stupid plan!"

Mabel held her brother's arm, looking at his face with surprise and sadness. "Dipper…"

"Just what the heck do you want from us?! You have won! You defeated us! Why don't you just take the book and leave us alone?!"

Soos was staring at the boy silently.

"Hmhmhmhmhmhmh. Hahahahahahahahahaaha!" Soos started to laugh loudly.

Dipper was still furious, but he didn't expect that reaction.

"Hahahaaha….do you….hahaha…..I-I can't …..Do you think I need anything from you?"

Dipper didn't understand. "W-what do you mean?"

"Oh kid. Dumb, stupid kid. I still can't believe you thought all this time that I wanted your precious journal."

Dipper was confused again. "What are you saying? Y-you need it… to finish what you want to do to Stan…You read it there… how to do it…"

"Oh, did I Dipper?" Soos smiled widely.

"B-but… Stan said you read it… and you had it for a long time…"

"It really is an interesting source of information, Dipper. But there's nothing on this book that could've help me with Stan's transformation."

Dipper didn't know what to say or think. He realized he had been wrong all the time. "Then how… how are you…"

"You guys are so dumb, aren't you? You never understood what you were facing, Dipper. You are amazing! You think like a genius, but sometimes you can act like a total idiot. For example, how could you buy it when Soos told you he was going to clean your mess on the attic at MIDNIGHT?!"

Both Dipper and Mabel remained silent, despite they knew now that it had been this other Soos the one who offered to help them with their room.

"I guess you have been watching too much TV." Soos said. "Well. Let me clarify it for you. What I need in order to change Stan isn't written on a book. It's just the power from the candy!" Soos yelled. "The same power that made that loser candy come to life and that made it take the form of the Summerween Trickster is the only thing I need!"

Having said that, Soos lifted off the ground and was surrounded by the white glow. Simultaneously, the mirrors moved again. Six of them flew to where Stan was. The mirrors came close each one to one of the others that were lying on the floor, but they remained in a vertical position, touching the edges of the others. The stuffed animals were also lifted a few inches over the mirrors.

"You see, I'm gonna use this incredible power to make this creatures come to live, and then I'm gonna unite them to Stan. That's way too advanced for you and your book, Dipper.

Dipper looked nervous at Stan. "But… you said you still wanted something from us… a little thing you said."

Soos smiled again. "Oh yes, but it wasn't the book. You see, I thought Stan would feel lonely with no one that could speak to him. So…"

All of a sudden, Bloomscorch glowed and ascended from the floor. He quickly floated to Soos.

"Ahhhh! Guys!"

"Bloomscorch!" The twins yelled.

Bloomscorch was sent next to Grunkle Stan. The rope around the old man's body untied and surrounded the monster. Then it tied again around Stan, leaving the two hanging from the roof.

"After all, a chimera is supposed to have two heads, right guys?" Said Soos.

Bloomscorch's face went pale. "Oh no…" He said.

Soos held the journal in his hand. "The truth is that I wanted to see what other weird stuff I could find here to improve this museum. But you know what? I think I don't need it! You two dudes are the perfect attraction!" He said looking at the twins.

Dipper and Mabel both felt a shiver. "W-what do you mean, Soos?" Mabel asked.

"Oh Mabel, tell me, who wouldn't pay to see a sweet little girl like you facing mortal danger, every single night?" Soos said with en evil grin.

Mabel took a step back. Dipper took one forward. "That's not gonna happen! Never Soos!"

"That depends on you. That's the other part of the show. His brave and beloved brother comes to rescue her and saves the day, also every single night!...That is if he can do it."

"We… we will never participate in you twisted plans… Soos!" Mabel shouted, but her voice was cracking.

"She's right Soos!" Dipper said. "I will never put her life on danger just so you can have your fun!"

"You will have to. Unless you want her to actually get hurt."

Dipper was hit hard by these words. He didn't want to think much on them because he knew they could make him not see things clearly. Unfortunately, it was going to be more difficult to handle this situation. He heard a noised behind him. He turned around and saw the Mabel had fallen on her knees.

"Mabel!" He kneeled next to her. She was trembling. Her hands were rubbing the hair over her face violently. She had no sweater to hide, and Dipper knew that only made things more terrible for her.

"You remember the sharp mirror glass blades, Mabel? That… that was just playing. I have many more ideas!"

"Shut up!"

Dipper yelled at him. Mabel started to cry.

"Mabel! Calm down…calm down."

"Dipper!..." She said with a heartbreaking voice. "I'm scared… I'm so scared!"

Dipper took her hands in both of his. He was also near to the point of crying. "It's gonna be fine… It's gonna be…"

"Come on kids! Don't you see it? This is the end of the line! I have won! There are no more plans, no more exits! I control everything! And you belong to me now! So you should better start obeying your new boss!"

Dipper knew it was most likely true. There was nothing they could do. He wanted to cry too. He wanted to hug Mabel and burst into tears. But he had to be strong for his sister. The problem was he didn't know if he could.

He looked her in the eyes. Those eyes were filled with nothing else than hopelessness. They used to shine. They used to cheer him and everyone else up during hard times. How was it possible that they looked so miserable now? How was it possible that the person who spread hope and joy had lost all of it? It didn't seem right. How did it happen? How could he let it happen?

In that moment, Dipper knew this just wasn't right. He made a decision. He wasn't gonna permit that Mabel remain in this state any longer. He didn't know how, but he was going to save her. And he was gonna do it even if it costed his own life.

He tightened the grip around her hands. "Everything is going to be okay, I promise."

Mabel looked at her brother. She knew that face. She had seen that determination before. He wasn't going to give up. But for some reason, she still couldn't help being afraid. Despite it, Mabel trusted her twin brother instantly.

"Okay" She stopped winning. "It's just that I.."

She wasn't able to finish. Her body was attracted to Soos by a powerful force. He ascended from the floor, and the two floated high on the air.

"No! Let her go!" Dipper yelled.

"Sorry Dipper, but you two were getting weird again. And besides, I have plans for Mabel. This book turned to be really interesting!" Soos held the journal open on his hand. "Giant vampire bats! That's worth a try!"

"Dipper! Don't let him take me!" Mabel shouted with all her strength and her eyes shut.

"Oh, don't be like that." Soos said. "I can't let you guys be together. You may come up with funny ideas to annoy me. So from now on, get used to be separated."

"Dipper!" Mabel cried, extending her arms to her brother.

"Mabel…"

He felt weak, useless. He felt unable to stop her sister's suffering. He looked behind Soos and Mabel. Bloomscorch had a defeated look on his face. Grunkle Stan was trying unsuccessfully to get rid of the rope. Dipper was alone.

"He's not gonna do anything, Mabel." Soos told her. "He'd better not." Soos floated to the mirrors and Mabel followed him.

Dipper's heart beat was hyper accelerated. He could hardly breathe. All he was able to do was watching, and he saw Mabel's eyes. His own words sounded on his mind, _Everything is going to be okay, I promise._ He was her only hope. _I promise… I promise… I promise… I promise…_

"Now, that long hair of yours is gonna be a problem, Hambone." Soos told Mabel. "I guess we'll just have to cut it a bit." Soos extended an arm and touched a strand of her hair. Mabel closed her eyes and let out a cry.

That was it. Dipper felt how all his weakness suddenly vanished and was replaced by an incredible rage. He was furious because somebody was hurting his sister. He clenched his teeth, and his hands turned into fists again.

"STOP NOW IDIOT!"

Soos had to turn to Dipper, as well as everybody else, when that roar rumbled in the museum.

"What did you just say?" Asked Soos.

"I said stop now! You idiot! Stop touching my sister!" Dipper shouted.

"Well, well. You still want to fight, boy?"

"Let her go now!"

"Uhhhh, no! How about that?"

Dipper stared at him with the most frightening look Mabel had ever seen on his face. Then, Dipper charged toward Soos.

"Oh, come on." Soos said rolling his eyes.

When Dipper was on the middle of his way, Soos moved a hand, and a powerful force hit Dipper, making him fall backwards. He quickly stood up and ran to Soos again. Dipper was hit one more time, and another and another, but he stood up every time.

"You never learn, do you?" Soos asked him.

"You coward! Stop doing that and come here to fight me!"

"What?!"

"You heard me! You feel so strong because you have those powers! Try to take me down using only your hands and I'll break your face!"

Soos couldn't believe it. He thought it was funny though. "You aren't serious, are you?"

"You messed with my sister! Now come down here, coward!" Dipper fell to the floor again.

"Stop calling me that, Dipper." Soos said annoyed.

"Coward! Coward! You friggin coward! Are you scared because you are nothing without that stupid glow? Stop hiding like a rat!"

Soos frowned. He suddenly floated very fast to meet Dipper, who was coming on his way. There was no force that hit the boy. This time, Soos' arm came to meet him. But Dipper dodged it, jumped to him, and pulling himself up, he hit Soos right on the mouth.

Soos took a few steps back, trying to recover from the punch that made his lower lip bleed. Dipper had landed, and ran again to Soos, but he was immobilized by the white light.

Soos came to him and grabbed him by the collar of his clothes. "Hahaha, that was a pretty good punch, Dipper." He said while cleaning the blood on his face. "You want a fist fight? You've got it." He finished speaking and hit Dipper with his fist on the face. The boy was tossed back and landed hard on the floor.

"Dipper! No!" Mabel shouted.

"You asked for it, kid."Soos said.

Dipper stood up and shook his head. That punch hurt a lot. But he knew it was just the beginning. _So this is it, Dipper _He told himself. _Just go for it_. He ran to Soos again screaming. Soos grabbed Dipper's face with his hand and punched him on the stomach.

Dipper felt the air escape his body. He took a few steps back. "Not…bad…for a…guy who likes to…tease little girls." He said grabbing his belly.

Soos walked to him. He didn't give Dipper time to react and grabbed him by the arms. He lifted him and tossed him. Dipper landed on some wooden boxes that broke with the impact. He felt an incredible pain on his back. He tried to get on his feet, but the pain paralyzed him.

Soos came to him and lifted him again. "You know, I've wanted to do this for a while now."

He threw him back to the center of the museum. Soos was really strong and Dipper was about to discover it the hard way.

The boy stood up with difficulty. He was already feeling pain in all his body, but he managed to stay standing.

"You should better give up before you get really hurt." Soos warned him as he approached.

"Dipper! Stop! What are you doing?!" Mabel yelled.

Dipper didn't listen to her. He charged once again. He punched Soos many times on his stomach. It was like a mouse punching an elephant.

"Here, let me help you with that." Soos took Dipper's arms and squeezed them. Dipper cried on pain. Then, Soos guided one arm to the boy's face. He used it to make Dipper punch himself.

Dipper was stunned by the hits. He fell to his knees. He knew he wasn't going to have any success on punching, so he grabbed Soos' leg and tried to make him lose balance.

"Oh come on, Dipper. Now, you're not being smart." Soos tried to set his leg free, but Dipper kept holding."Okay, that's enough." He used his other leg to kick Dipper under his chest. The boy instantly let go.

"Soos! Stop it! Stop it!" Mabel yelled. She couldn't contain her tears while seeing her brother being hurt that way.

Soos picked Dipper up. Seeing that he was close enough, the boy struggled on Soos' hands and tried to hit him.

"Calm down, Dipper. You don't want…..Ahhhh!"

Dipper jumped to his chest and hit him many times on the face. Soos stepped back and tried to stop him.

"Y-you coward! Never hurt Mabel again!" Dipper shouted.

In his attempt to get rid of the rain of fists on his face, Soos removed Dipper's vest from him. He finally held him by the shoulders and furiously threw him. The boy flew for some feet and then hit the nearest totem pole. Dipper's vest stayed on Soos' hands. He let it fall to the floor.

Because of the hard impact, Dipper's mind went blank for some seconds.

Soos approached him. "I hope, for your own good, that you had enough, Dipper."

Incredibly, when Dipper recovered, he stood up and yelled at Soos.

"Y-you are…you are gonna regret…for touching my sister!"

Soos shook his head. "Is this all about it? This is how brothers normally react?"

Dipper took a deep breath. "I'm also gonna stop you… you… you aren't gonna hurt Grunkle Stan either."

Soos frowned. "I'm sorry. That's not on discussion."

"We'll see that." Dipper said and ran to Soos once more.

Soos stopped Dipper's weak fists. He couldn't help smiling at the ridiculous attack. He punched Dipper on the face again, which made the boy fell to the floor. He stood up again though, and made another try.

"You are really stubborn, kid." Soos said. "Let's see if this stops you." Soos grabbed Dipper by his shirt collar and lifted him. Then he punched him on the face. Dipper's head moved back violently and blood came out of his nose. Soos waited for him to recover, and then hit him again, and again and again and again.

"STOP! STOP YOU MANIAC!

Soos was surprised by Mabel's screaming. He thought she must had yelled with all the strength she had left, because somehow the girl was suddenly free from his levitation power and fell to the ground. Once there, she ran to Soos, with clenched fists and screaming, just like her brother. Obviously, Soos stopped her in the middle of the way, before she could do anything.

"Wow Mabel!" Soos said. "Please don't tell me you are gonna give me as much trouble as your brother."

"Leave him alone! Or you'll have to fight me too!" She shouted.

Soos let Dipper fall. "Don't worry, Mabel. It was fun for a while, but now we need to move on with the show." Soos said as he lifted Mabel again. "However, this is exactly the kind of spectacle I was planning for you two. The only difference is that Dipper is the one who's supposed to come to rescue you. But, Hey! Everything's cool! We'll find a way to put you in danger!"

Dipper suddenly jumped to Soos again. "No you're not!"

Soos grabbed him by the neck and let him hang over the floor.

"You…aghh…you…are not gonna win!" He said as he used his hands to try to release himself.

Soos smiled evilly and laughed. "Hmmmhahahahahahahahaah! It's time to begin!"

He closed his eyes and opened them. The museum started to tremble again. The stuffed animals standing on the mirrors glowed. Also Stan and Bloomscorch started to glow. Soos made one last mirror float over both of them.

"I hope you guys are comfortable!" He told Dipper and Mabel. "Especially you Dipper! Hahaha! B-Because you won't want to miss this!" He pointed a hand to Stan's head and the video camera came flying to him. "And I'm gonna love watching it over and over again!" The device floated over his head and pointed on the direction Soos was looking at.

A shriek was heard. The twins looked at the big stuffed Andean condor, which was moving its head and opening its beak. The other animals came to life as well, roaring and agitating their bodies.

"What happens now, buddy?!" Stan asked Bloomscorch.

The monster watched in disbelief. "I think we are next."

"Behold!" Soos yelled. "The real power of the loser candy!"

White energy beams were emitted from the animals. They were absorbed by the mirrors below them. Then the energy was reflected and transmitted to the standing mirrors beside every creature. Finally, the mirrors sent six energy beams to Stan and Bloomscorch.

"Oh boy!" Stan said before they were hit by the white light. It didn't actually hurt them or cause them any pain. They only felt a low intensity flow of electricity through their bodies, which made them shake.

"No! Grunkle Stan! Bloomscorch!" Mabel cried.

The monster looked at her. Then he looked at Dipper, and his eyes widened.

The Shack started to shake as if there was an earthquake. The lamps that were hanging fell down, as well as other attractions. The wooden floor seemed to be jumping. The white light intensified, and Soos eyes glowed.

Energy was sent from Stan and Bloomscorch to the mirror below them. From there, it was reflected and received by the mirror over them, which sent it back to the other mirror again, and the process repeated over and over. The now living animals ascended from the ground and started to float to Stan and Bloomscorch, following their respective traces of white energy.

"Ahhhhh! Ssssssoos! Ssssstop it!" Stan yelled with his eyes shut.

"Good bye Stan!" Soos answered him. "My debt to you has been paid!"

"Nooooo!" Bloomscorch screamed. "Guuuuuuuyssss!"

"Dipper!" Mabel yelled.

Dipper had been hanging from Soos' grip over the floor. His neck hurt a lot. Plus, he was having a hard time trying to breathe. His nose and lips were bleeding, and his face was red for receiving so many punches. He had one black eye, and was trying to keep it shut. His whole body ached, specially his stomach and back. He had bruises on his arms and legs. He wanted to puke, but on his position, it wasn't a good idea. For him, it seemed that the whole world was in slow motion, and the sounds and voices were very distant. He knew he was going to pass out soon.

However, he hadn't survived all the night to be stopped by his body. And besides, he had promised Mabel he would fix this. And promises are meant to be kept, especially if they were made to Mabel.

That's why when Bloomscorch looked at him, as if saying good bye, he had put both hands on the pockets of his shorts, and extracted the spare bottle of soda and something that looked like chewing gum. He would've loved to have the camera to capture the poor monster's astonished face when he saw what he was about to do. And when Mabel called his name, he managed to open the bottle. _Pop it and shake it_ he ordered to his hands.

At first, he had only acted by despair. He ran to Soos when he saw he was touching Mabel, and knew it was impossible he could beat him. But he couldn't just watch. There was nothing else he could do but using only his hands to try to save Mabel. Then, during one of the times he was on the floor after being hit by Soos, he felt the soda on his pocket and remembered the gum. Soos had taken too long, but at last, he had brought him close enough to his body and gotten distracted enough time so there was no chance to fail.

He put the gum into the bottle, closed it and shook it weakly. _Now, just wait. _It was so simple that he wasn't able to contain a laugh. "Hmhmhmhmhmhmm"

Soos heard him and turned to him. "Why are you laughing? Have you finally gone nuts for having your head hit so many times? Or is it that you hated your Grunkle that much?"

Dipper grabbed Soos' hand, which was holding his neck. "I told… you… you were not… gonna… win." His other hand was holding the shaking bottle. "Thank… God… you didn't… listen… hmhmhmhmhm"

Mabel was hearing and looking at him. She thought Dipper had actually lost his mind. "Oh Dipper…"

"What are you talking about?" Soos asked smiling. "I've already won! I defeated you! I was more intelligent, stronger and I smashed every one of your pathetic plans!" He brought the boy's face closer to him. "Did I forget something?"

Dipper lowered his hand. "Yeah, you forgot… you forgot to keep your guard up… until the very end."

With that, he opened the bottle. The familiar sound of gas escaping was heard. Soos looked down and saw it, but didn't have time to figure it out.

A loud "pop" was heard.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Ok, I just want to say I'm really sorry for not posting this on the date I said, which was like two weeks ago. There's a perfect logical explanation for that, but I don't think you're interested on it. So, this is the final chapter of this story, and maybe then I'll add one more with interesting things about the whole thing.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 8**

Stan and Bloomscorch watched how, in the blink of an eye, a huge amount of pink chewing gum appeared between Dipper and Soos, and extended around them. It covered the mirrors and the stuffed animals. Mabel fell to the floor. All the spectacle of lights and trembling ceased immediately and Stan and the monster were hanging again from the ceiling as silence filled the room.

Dipper opened his eyes. He saw he had separated a little from Soos because of the explosion. His whole body was covered by gum until his chest, and his left arm was also trapped. He saw Soos in front of him. Only his head was visible. He was looking down at where the rest of his body was.

"Gum?! Chewing gum again?!" He yelled. "How is it possible?!" He looked at Dipper. "You!"

Dipper was relieved that his neck was free from Soos' grip, but he was still very weak and felt sleepy. He just smiled a little.

"You should have never tried to hurt Mabel." He told him. "Oh, by the way, your little chimera project over there" He pointed to Stan and the monster. "It has been permanently cancelled."

Soos face changed to one of disbelief. He tried to look behind him, but the gum around his neck didn't help him. He tried to move inside the gum, clenched his teeth and groaned. He shut and opened his eye, trying to concentrate.

"Don't bother yourself trying to escape or using your powers." Dipper said. "This is an improved gum, you're not going anywhere." He closed his eyes for a moment. He could've really used some rest.

"Dipper! Are you okay?" Mabel called him.

Dipper had forgotten about her. He stayed with his eyes closed waiting for her to approach.

"I'm fine, Mabel. Just get me out of here."

"That was awesome!" She shouted again. "I'll go and help you once I get rid of this stuff!"

Dipper opened his eyes. He made an effort to move his body to find Mabel. He saw her to his left. She was on the floor, a few feet from him and Soos. Her legs were covered with gum.

He opened his eyes even more. "Mabel! Y-you were not supposed to get trapped by the gum!"

"I almost escaped, but it got on my legs."

"Listen! You still have the soda and the Smile Dip, right?" He asked.

"Yeah" She said and took them out of her night gown.

"You have to get out of there at once! And use them on Soos! You're our only hope!"

"Oh don't think about it!" Soos yelled. He was looking at Dipper with all the anger that was forming inside of him. "Kid, you have finished with my patience."

Mabel was fighting against the gum, which was really strong. She had a little on her hips, but her feet were totally pasted to the floor. "Dip! I-I can't! This thing… I can't break it!"

"I told you only the special soda can dissolve it!" Bloomscorch shouted. "But don't think of it! I can't reach my pocket!"

Dipper looked at them. "Can't you break those ropes?"

"Kid, if there was a way to get rid of them, we would have done it a long time ago!" Stan yelled at him.

Dipper started to get nervous again.

"Okay, we just have to… we just have to wait for the effect to pass!" Said Mabel.

"He combined the gum with the soda." Bloomscorch said. "It could last for hours!"

"We can't wait that much time!" Dipper said.

"Don't worry. You won't have to." Soos said.

Dipper turned to him. Soos' face had changed. He had a different expression, one that was disturbing. He wasn't angry or smiling evilly. He just looked directly into his eyes. Dipper felt this wasn't good.

Soos moved his body inside the gum and there was a sound similar to a balloon exploding.

"My grappling hook!" Mabel yelled. "He still has it!"

There was movement on the gum around Soos' neck. Dipper saw how it was being pushed by Soos' hands. Then, the gum started to break little by little.

"No!" Dipper said. "Mabel! You have to break it too!"

Soos smiled. "You almost did it, Dipper." He closed his eyes. His body started to shake because of the incredible effort. Little by little he started to advance through the gum.

"He… he can't do that!" Bloomscorch said. "That gum blocks his powers, and now is enhanced by the soda!"

Mabel looked at his trapped legs. "Wait" She said. "This is chewing gum right? Maybe I can chew it!" She moved her body to the front, trying to get closer. "Ahhh! If only my mouth could reach my feet!"

Soos moved more inside the gum. He was now close to Dipper. He looked at him on the eyes and smiled.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I have prepared for this all my life?"

Suddenly, the gum between them was torn by the hands of Soos. He had been able to break the gum by using the grappling hook first. Even though he opened a whole on the sticky matter, he managed to liberate only his left arm.

"Mabel! Guys! You have to find a way! Anything! Now or…"

Soos used his only free arm to grab Dipper's shirt collar.

"Listen to me, boy." He said. "You have interfered with my plans for the last time."

Dipper glared at him. He took Soos' left arm also with his only free arm. "I won't let you get out of here! You can struggle all you want, but you'll have to kill me to get out!"

Soos smiled again, looking down. "It's funny you say that now…" with an incredible velocity, Soos grabbed Dipper's neck. "Because that's what I was planning to do."

Dipper felt a powerful grip around his neck. He quickly moved his hand to it.

"You are really smart and courageous, and that's why I thought you could be useful." Soos said as he continued to press on Dipper's neck. "But you have also become a threat that I can no longer tolerate."

"No! Soos! Let him go!" Mabel yelled.

"Have you lost your mind?! Let him go now!" Stan shouted.

Dipper tried to put his hand between his neck and Soos' fingers. It was useless. He felt Soos squeezed even more.

"Soos! You're gonna hurt him badly! Stop!" Mabel yelled again. She was now trying desperately to liberate her legs.

"That's exactly what he wants…" Bloomscorch said with huge eyes.

Stan looked at the monster. Fear was invading him as he saw things had suddenly become catastrophic for his nephew. Bloomscorch started to swing, trying to break the rope. They had already tried that. A lot.

"You must be thinking you ruined everything for me, right?" Soos asked him. "This is nothing but a little delay. We'll rebuild everything, and start again. Only this time, you won't be here. " He squeezed more. He had started pressing only a little, and then he increased the strength. Now, he wouldn't contain himself.

Dipper's face started to turn red. His vision became blurry.

"Soos! Soos!" Mabel yelled with watered eyes. "Soos! Please stop! Don't do this!"

Stan was now panicked. There was absolutely no way they could release themselves. He could tell that Soos wasn't faking. He won't stop until Dipper was…

"Look what you caused Stan!" Soos shouted. "He was trying to save you! Now, you'll be responsible for this too!"

Dipper started to let out awful sounds. He wasn't breathing anymore. He let go Soos' arm. _So… this is how it ends… _He thought.

"Dipper! Dipper!" Mabel turned to her Grunkle crying. "Grunkle Stan! Please! Do something!"

"Good bye, Dipper Pines." Soos told him.

"Soos!... I'm sorry!" Stan yelled with all his strength.

Soos blinked. "You're sorry for what?" He asked.

Stan breathed quickly. "I'm sorry… for treating you so bad… forgive me, ok?!"

Soos wasn't expecting this. Not even in a million years he would've expected this. His hand relaxed a bit.

"Y-you… y-you… wha… what y-you just… said?" He asked again with a confused look.

"I said forgive me!... But now… you have to let Dipper go! Let him go now Soos!"

The moment Soos heard that, his hand opened a little. It was something involuntary, as if someone else had done it for him. He opened it just a little, but it was enough to let Dipper breathe again. His lungs filled with air and he coughed several times.

Soos watched it. What was he doing? Why did he do what Stan said? He got angry, and closed his hand again.

"Don't do it, Soos! Please! You don't want to hurt him!"

Soos stopped. Again, it was as if he was losing control.

"Stop! Shut up Stan!" He yelled.

"I won't! It's the only thing I can do to stop you from hurting him! He's innocent! He never did anything to you… I did all those things to you! And I'm so sorry!"

Soos shut his eyes with rage. He wasn't able to concentrate. He wanted to keep doing what he was doing seconds ago, but he couldn't stop paying attention to Stan.

Mabel looked at her brother. He seemed to be unconscious. She saw also that Soos was acting weird. "What's going on with him?" She asked to nobody.

"It's working! It's actually working!" Bloomscorch said. "Haha! I can't believe it!"

"What are you talking about?" Mabel looked at him.

"It's just like what Dipper did in the parlor!"

"Soos… I uh… I guess I want to say forgive me for… not paying enough attention to you… Also for not giving the respect you deserved." Stan continued.

"It was so evident! How couldn't we see it before?" Bloomscorch said. "There's only one way to deal with emotional issues…"

"But the truth is…that you are very important to me… Soos… And I… I probably would have never succeeded without your help."

Bloomscorch let out a small laugh. "And that way… is emotional closure!"

Soos wasn't able to move now. He had prepared himself for this night. He had considered all the possible obstacles. And when there had been a problem, he had used all his power to find a solution. However, he never considered even the possibility that this would happen. He always thought Stan would try to escape by lying or trying to make someone else occupy his place.

"Mabel!" Bloomscorch yelled. "We still have to give him the soda!"

Soos heard that. He had been losing time. Stan had been making him lose time. Now he was angry again.

"You're lying Stan!" He roared, and with incredible effort he got his other arm out of the gum. He put a hand on Dipper's face.

"No! Soos! It's all true!... And speaking of that… f-forgive me… for all the times I lied to you… which were many. But it was only for making money! I never meant to hurt your feelings!"

Soos clenched his teeth. He wanted to crush that boy's neck. But for some reason, he just couldn't avoid hearing what Stan was saying. Moreover, he wanted to hear what he was saying, and wanted that he say more. That was stopping him. It was messing with his emotions and his will. It was so confusing.

"Mabel!" Bloomscorch yelled. "Can't you get out of there?"

Mabel made another effort to move her legs. "I'm sorry! I just can't!"

"Okay! Then, you'll have to help us get down! We have one last chance! Try to find anything sharp and throw it to my mouth!"

Mabel searched for any sharp things on the floor. The broken wood was far from them. All the remaining broken glass had been covered by the gum. She could try to use the soda and the Smile Dip, but she knew it was all that was left. They needed it for Soos.

"Oh Bloom, there's nothing here we can use!" She cried. "Maybe you can keep talking to him, Grunkle Stan! He seems to be getting weaker!"

She should have never said that. Soos heard her clearly. _Weak? Me! Weak?! _He shook his head, and realized he hadn't been moving for a long time.

Grunkle Stan was still talking to him. "And when I told you those weird puppies you loved so much had escaped one night… It was also a lie! I put them on a box and left it near the lake. Nobody wanted them! They were really strange, and I wasn't gonna keep them! Can you imagine the money it…"

"Shut up! Shut up! You liar!" Soos screamed.

The green light appeared on Soos' face once again. He clenched his teeth harder than ever and Stan and Bloomscorch were pushed by a force and swung on the air.

Soos breathed heavily. Then he smiled. "It didn't work, Stan! You thought you could fool me with your false regret and stop me! Well, I don't want to hear you anymore!"

Stan's undershirt was torn. Soos closed his eyes and screamed. A piece of Stan's clothes was tied around his mouth again.

Bloomscorch looked in panic. "He has recovered his powers! Oh boy, you have to do something Mabel! You hmmmmmmm…."

Another piece of cloth covered the monster's mouth. Soos opened his eyes. He had made an incredible effort, but he had been able to use his telekinesis despite the gum being around him.

Mabel was watching everything in despair. She then looked at Soos.

"And you" Soos told her. "Do you also have anything to say?"

Mabel looked at her brother. He had opened his eyes, and was disoriented. He was now breathing normally, but he was still in danger."

"In fact… I do have something to say!" She yelled at Soos.

"Well I don't care about it."

A piece of her night gown was torn. Mabel watched in horror. She had a little time to shout a pair of words before the fabric covered her mouth.

"Rotten apples!"

Everybody looked at her confused. Even Dipper opened his eyes more because of the loud yell.

Mabel tried to separate the piece of cloth from her face, but it glowed every time she tried and it remained adhered to her mouth.

"Funny. I bet you weren't expecting those would be your sister's last words to you, Dipper." Soos told him.

He instantly grabbed the boy's neck again. Mabel screamed behind the cloth on her mouth.

Dipper opened big his eyes. He looked to his side. "M-m-m-m-ab…mabl….mabel" He said. "D-don't….b-b-be…a-fraid-d."

"Hahahahahaha! Oh… she should be, Dipper. If only you knew what awaits her!"

Soos laughed. He laughed so loudly, that nobody was able to hear the sounds that were coming from the gift shop. It sounded like someone was hitting metal.

"I think we were saying good bye some minutes ago, Dipper." Soos squeezed harder his neck.

Dipper kept looking at his sister. He didn't want to look at anything else. Mabel kept her eyes fixed on her brother, crying.

_I'm sorry… Dip._ She told him.

A bang was heard. It came from the gift shop. Everybody heard it. Nobody stopped doing what they were doing. Not even when more strange sounds came to their ears. That was until something came running from the gift shop. It passed through the curtained door, crawling under the big stone disk that didn't block all the entrance, and entered the museum.

Waddles ran to Mabel. He had hit the door of the secret storage room until it opened as soon as he heard Mabel yelled those two words, whose meaning was 'serious trouble'.

Mabel saw the little pig. She had never been happier to see him. Before he got to her, Mabel pointed to Dipper and Soos. Waddles looked on that direction and oinked.

"What?" Soos said, recognizing the sound. "Is that what I think it is?"

Waddles jumped to his face, again. Soos instantly let go Dipper's neck, and tried to fight against the unexpected threat that was scratching and biting on his face.

"Ahhh!... gahhh… you!... not again!..."

Mabel felt the cloth over her mouth wasn't pressing anymore. She took it away. "Go Waddles go!"

Bloomscorch screamed to get Mabel's attention. She remembered him and Stan.

"Oh! Okay. Waddles! You have to help Grunkle Stan!"

Waddles stopped attacking Soos. He looked at Mabel and oinked again.

"Now buddy! Go get Stan…"

Soos agitated his arms and hit Waddles. He was tossed with a lot of strength, but fortunately landed safely on the ground.

"Waddles! Help Grunkle Stan get down!" Mabel told him.

The little pig looked at the old man and the monster, which had their hands tied and their mouths covered.

Soos finally opened his eyes. "I'm gonna kill and cook those tiny fifteen pounds of ham!" He yelled as he looked for Waddles.

"Stay away from Soos, buddy!"

The pig looked around, and spotted Dipper's vest on the floor. He quickly ran and disappeared under it, like trying to hide himself.

"That's not what I meant!" Mabel shouted.

"Hahahahaha! Yes! Don't move! Maybe I won't find you!... Ahhhhhhhhh!" Soos eyes shone again as he extended his arm to Waddles.

Two hands suddenly grabbed his hair and pulled. "Let's see… how you like… this!" Dipper said.

Soos screamed in pain. "Ahhhhhhh!... what the….your other arm! How did you ahhhhh!."

"You thought… you were the only one… who could… escape from this thing? Think again!" He pulled harder and Soos screamed again. "Mabel… now!"

"Waddles! Now!" Mabel commanded.

Waddles came running from under Dipper's vest. He jumped and landed on the boy's head. From there, he jumped to Soos' head. Finally, he made a long jump and landed on Grunkle Stan's back. Stan said some words, nobody understood though. Waddles used his hooves to try to remove the cloth.

"Get the rope!" Mabel shouted.

Soos remembered he also had hands and moved them both to the boy's arms. "Stop now!"

Dipper pulled harder and moved Soos' head back and forward. Soos was holding Dipper's arms, but he didn't let go.

Waddles finally took away the cloth from Stan's mouth.

"Waffles!" Stan yelled. "Get that rope on your mouth and start chewing!"

"What?!" Soos shouted, having listened to Stan.

He got furious. Furious like he had never been. He let go Dipper's arms, and grabbed the boy's neck with both hands.

"Okay! That's it kid!" He pressed.

Dipper let go the hair.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Soos' eyes glowed again.

Waddles was about to take a bite of the rope around Stan's wrists, when he felt a strange force acting on him. It started to lift him. He desperately bit the rope and his back legs ascended. He was holding with his teeth to the rope.

Stan made an extra effort and grabbed one of the pig's hooves with his fingers.

"Waddles! Hang in there!" Mabel yelled.

"Come here, Waddles!" Soos said with his eyes shut.

Waddles couldn't take it anymore and he separated from Stan.

"Oh No! No, piggy, piggy, come here… No!...Noooo!" Stan yelled.

Waddles oinked frightened on the air.

"No Waddles!" Mabel saw her pig floating near the ceiling like a pink balloon.

Stan closed his hands. Waddles was gone. He didn't cut the rope.

Dipper grabbed again Soos' hair and pulled.

"AHHHH!" Soos screamed. "Hahahahaha… you never give up, right?" He screamed in pain and laughed.

"Nnnnnn-never!" Dipper said.

The boy pulled Soos' hair in different directions. Soos was screaming and laughing. His grip got stronger and then weaker. Then, he squeezed again.

"I… I never give up, and… I'll always fight!"

Mabel looked at Dipper. A last ray of hope shone inside her.

Soos stopped laughing and got closer to Dipper. "Of course… but unfortunately… that ends tonight." He moved his hands to Dipper's upper neck, near his chin, and pushed back.

Dipper felt his head was being moved to a position it wasn't supposed to. He instantly felt a pain in the back of his neck, which intensified every second. His heart skipped a beat. His eyes filled with fear and they looked at Soos.

"Oh kid, I'm sorry." Soos said. "Did you guys actually believe nobody was going to die?"

Mabel heard it. She felt something squeezed her heart. "No! Soos! No!"

Dipper released Soos' hair. His weak hands grabbed Soos' arms and tried to take them away. They didn't move a millimeter. Instead, they pushed with more strength.

If Soos wouldn't have been also squeezing Dipper's throat, the boy would've screamed. But the only thing that was heard from Dipper was horrifying moans of pain.

Mabel gasped. She carried her hands to her own neck. "D-d-d-d…"

Dipper continued to moan because of the pain and the fear. His body trembled. His breathing was difficult and accelerated. Soos moved his hands a little more and Dipper had to close his eyes, not being able to emit a sound anymore because of the intensity of what he was feeling.

"I want you to know." He heard Soos in the dark. "That I'm actually pretty sorry for separating you two."

Dipper opened his eyes… and there it was, in front of him. The world went completely silent, and he just watched. He had only lived twelve years, but it had been a lot. And he saw it all pass before his eyes. Every single moment. The things he remembered, and also the things he had forgotten. Every day of his short life was replayed to him. And in every one of them, she was there. From the very beginning, she had been always with him. He saw her smiling, laughing, crying, running, knitting, sleeping, and looking at him. And then, he knew he was going to die. "Mabel…"

When he said her name, the images on his mind disappeared. With the last of his strength, he moved his eyes to one side, and they met Mabel's. She looked so beautiful despite the sadness on her face… she knew it too… what was going to happen.

Dipper didn't feel like crying. He wasn't afraid anymore. He knew Mabel. She was amazing. Smart, strong… just like him. She was going to make it through any situation, even something worse than this… And she was going to do it without him. No, he wasn't worried about her. He only regretted not being able to say good bye.

Dipper smiled weakly at Mabel as a tear ran down his face. _You're gonna be just fine, sister._ He told her without using any words.

Mabel saw it through her own watered eyes. _I don't know… if I will…without you._

Soos hands pushed.

The horrible sound of something breaking was heard.

Dipper's hands, which had been around his neck, fell down. His eyes shut down slowly.

"Dipper…" Mabel whispered as tears covered her face. She felt as if suddenly an empty space had been left inside her. She just stared at her brother's inert body for a moment. Then, little by little, Mabel turned to Soos. When she did it, that empty space was filled with something else.

"You…" She spoke with hatred. "You monster!"

Mabel wanted to let out all of her wrath and throw it to Soos, but she couldn't contain her sobs. "You… you… you broke his…"

Soos relaxed his hands, and opened his mouth.

He never pronounced a word because someone landed on him, placing the legs over his shoulders.

"No, he didn't!" Grunkle Stan yelled. "It was just me cutting the rope with this!"

Stan showed a Swiss army knife on his hand.

"Thank God Waddles put it on my hand before being sent away! And thank God Dipper had it on his vest!" He said.

Soos looked up. He was shocked. So was Mabel.

"B-b-but… if it was you…" She said. "then that sound… that sound…" She looked at her brother's body. "Dipper?"

Soos looked also at him. He patted the boy's face with a hand. "Hey kid, are you still there?"

After some long seconds, a sound was heard. "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

Then Dipper blinked and moaned again. He sure wasn't aware he was still on Earth.

Mabel's face lighted up like a Christmas tree. "Oh Dippy…"

She then looked at Soos. He returned the look. Mabel opened her eyes big. Soos opened his. Grunkle Stan did the same. "Oh boy…" He said.

Soos threw his arms over the boy again. Stan grabbed his hair and pulled.

"Don't you even think about it!" Stan yelled.

"Ahhhhh! Let me go! I'm gonna kill him! And then I'll come for you!"

Stan pulled the hair with one hand, and with the other he held Soos' arm.

"Mabel! Give me that soda now!" Stan told her.

Mabel reacted and opened the bottle and the bag. She emptied the entire Smile Dip package inside the bottle. "Okay! Grunkle Stan! Catch!"

She was about to toss the bottle. Stan extended an arm, but Soos grabbed it. Mabel hesitated.

"No way that's gonna happen!" Soos yelled.

"Wait just a second!" Stan said.

Soos' strength seemed to have increased. He was trying to reach Dipper with his left arm, but Stan held that one. At the same time, Soos held Stan's other arm, making it impossible for him to catch the soda. It was a real wrestling match, and Soos was winning.

Mabel was desperate and angry. She was trapped in that despicable gum, not being able to help. She looked at Dipper. He probably had fainted because of the extreme pain, but now he was closing and opening his eyes, and moving his head. He was alive. Her brother was alive. She just had to keep him that way.

Suddenly, Soos brought Stan's arms together and with a quick move he grabbed them both by the wrists with his right arm. He finally grabbed Dipper's neck again.

"No! You…" Stan said.

"No mistakes this time!"

Mabel watched in horror. Dipper was still disoriented, but she saw the pain on his face again. The horror passed, and was replaced by rage. The same rage she felt when she thought Dipper was gone. Her hands turned into fists. Her teeth squeaked when she clenched them.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She roared.

Putting the soda inside her clothes, she reached the gum on her legs. She took it, and with one single powerful move she tore it to pieces. She quickly stood up.

"Aaaaaaaaahhh!" She screamed as she ran to them with her eyes closed.

Stan and Soos were not sure if what they were seeing was actually happening. They were still fighting each other. But when Mabel jumped and landed in front of Dipper, there was no doubt.

"What are you doing little girl?" Soos asked her.

Mabel leaned and bit Soos' arm hard, shaking her head violently like an animal. He screamed in pain and took it away.

"Woah! Mabel!" Stan said.

Mabel turned to her brother and with the same ferocity she ripped the gum around him.

"WHAT THE HECK?!" Soos yelled.

Dipper was much more aware of things now. He looked at her, not believing what he thought she had just done. "M-m-m-mabel?"

She took him by the arms and lifted him. Then she jumped with him to the wooden floor. They fell and rolled.

"Yes! That's my girl!" Stan shouted.

He soon noticed Soos starting to glow below him. The same glow surrounded the twins.

"There's no escape from me kids…"

Stan pulled his hair extremely hard.

"Ahhhhhh! Staaaaaaaaaan!"

Mabel felt the energy around her vanished. She moved to Dipper and took him in her arms. "Dipper! Dipper! Are you okay?!"

"Uhh… yeah… uhhhh…" He said, grimacing in pain. "Hey… is that… Stan?"

He pointed ahead. Mabel turned around. Stan was still on top of Soos, fighting against his arms and pulling his hair.

They watched as Soos' eyes glowed and then turned off, and then it happened again and again. Mabel heard a squeak, and looked up. Waddles was flying in circles through the air.

"Oh my gosh!" She said.

Soos took one of Stan's arms. "Give up old man! There's nothing you can do to…"

"You are not Soos!" Stan yelled.

"What? What are you saying?"

"You are not Soos! So you can't control his body!"

Soos felt it again. His body failed him. "What the… Of course I am! I'm the improved version of him that…"

"No! You listen to me! You are nothing like him! No matter how much you try or lie, you'll never have the right to use his name!"

Soos looked stunned. Surprisingly, he had forgotten fighting. He was trying to put his thoughts in order.

Mabel heard Waddles squeaking again. She looked up and watched him falling. She gasped. Luckily, he landed on Dipper… luckily.

"Owww…" Dipper whined. "Uhhh… Never mind… at this point, nothing can cause me more pain… uhhhh."

Soos was now breathing heavily and sweating. "W-w-well… I'm his other side! And that's also Soos!"

"There was never another side! You just invented that! There is only one Soos, and you have nothing from him!"

"I AM HIM!" Soos yelled louder. "All his hidden emotions, his secret desire for justice… his honor! I'm here to fight for all that! YOU! will pay!"

"No, you're not." Stan said smiling. "Whatever you are, you just used Soos' most secret and darkest thoughts. But you only used them as an excuse to do what YOU wanted to do. Soos would've never behaved like this. You are what he would've become if he had decided to act like an idiot! You are just using him as a disguise in order to harm us. Not because it's justice, but because that's what you like the most!"

The kids were astonished that their Grunkle was saying such deep words. But it was true. There was no way Soos could do all this. Not even think about it. Not even really, really deep inside him.

Soos was trembling now. "Curse you! Curse you! CURSE YOU STAN!" He tried to grab him, but Stan slapped his arm. Soos felt his strength was abandoning him.

"But I know the real Soos is inside. And you and I know he can kick you out of there. So… if you're listening, kid… I'm sorry! I promise I'll be a better boss… and a better friend too!... And I really hope you can forgive me!"

Soos closed his eyes. He felt like something had blown up inside his head. "Stop it! Stop now!"

"Mabel! Now!" Stan said.

Mabel remembered the soda. She extracted the bottle from her night gown. The moment she did it, it scared her that it was shining like a flashlight.

"Wow! What is that?!" She said.

"Mabel… you have to get rid of that thing… now!" Dipper told her.

Mabel threw the bottle. Soos watched and tried to block it, but Stan easily caught it. With each word Stan said, Soos had been weakening. At this point, he couldn't fight anymore.

Stan opened the bottle. Shining golden bubbles came out from it and flew through the room.

"Nooooo!" Soos made a last attempt to stop the inevitable, but he could only raise his hands towards Stan.

"I just want to tell you, Soos…" Stan closed his eyes. "You really mean a lot to me… you know... like a son."

Soos put his hands on his ears. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I AM SOOS!"

Stan stuck the bottle on Soos' mouth. He looked up scared.

"Oh yeah? Well 'Soos', there's only one more thing I have to say to you... YOU ARE FIRED!"

Grunkle Stan squeezed the bottle and all the soda and Smile Dip entered Soos' body. The old man jumped from his shoulders and joined Mabel and Dipper on the floor.

Soos coughed after having swallowed all the bottle's content. He looked at Stan and the twins in front of him. It took a few seconds before the Smile Dip entered his system. Then, all his body started shaking. Soos took his hands to his stomach, and smiled nervously at Stan and the kids.

Suddenly, he saw every object and person in the room shine and vibrate. He stopped shaking.

"O... O… O… Okay… y-you win… this time… dUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

He opened his mouth and a blinding light came out of it, the same happened with his eyes.

The trio tried to cover their faces with their hands. Mabel held Waddles tightly. A powerful earthquake took place at the Mystery Shack. The walls, floor, ceiling and everything else shook, and surprisingly emitted that familiar and frightening green light.

"This is it, kids!" Stan yelled through the deafening noise. "It's working!"

The Pines family protected themselves with a group hug.

After a few more seconds, the lights disappeared and the sounds extinguished.

When Stan, Dipper, Mabel, and Waddles opened their eyes, they saw Soos in the same place. He was looking at nowhere. His mouth was wide open and he was emitting only one sound.

"Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…"

They walked to him quickly.

"It must have worked." Dipper said. He had recovered much of his strength.

When they were next to him, they saw how really weird his face was looking.

"Soos?! Soos, are you okay?" Mabel asked.

Stan snapped his fingers on Soos' face. "Hey Soos, wake up! Come on!"

"He has totally zoned out, guys." Dipper said.

Mabel took Soos' shoulders and shook him. "Soos! Soooooooos!"

"Mabel, don't!" Dipper took her hands. "After all, this is Smile Dip. I think he has been submerged on his own mind." He put a finger on his chin. "In fact, I think he's trying to find the way to return to reality."

Mabel looked at Soos worried. "Oh Soos…" She put a hand on his shoulder. "I wonder what's happening on his head."

.

..

...

Soos woke up. He was lying on the floor. Or… what he thought was the floor. He stood up and looked down. He was standing on grass… golden grass. He looked around. He was outside the shack, but the shack was nowhere on sight. He looked up and saw a purple sky, with purple clouds.

"What the heck is this place?"

A crash was heard behind him. He turned back and the Mystery Shack appeared in front of him, as if it had fallen from the sky.

"Oh, there you are…"

He walked to it. But when he was two steps from the porch, the whole building moved over the golden grass and suddenly rose in the air.

"Alright…" He said while watching the shack floating slowly just a few feet over him. "Maybe we went too far this time."

He looked around once again. There was no sign of Stan or the kids. He could see some mountains in the distance, but he was sure this wasn't Gravity Falls.

Something hit the back of his head. He turned back to see a bunch of chips floating near his face.

"Well, look at this… oh boy…"

Right behind the chips and higher in the air, another one was floating. Only that this one was the size of a car. It passed over him, and was followed by others similar to it. He noticed that other things were also in the air.

He moved only his head as he saw a giant screwdriver passing by his side. When he turned to his right, a normal size arcade machine was moving slowly near him. There was a game being played on the screen. All the objects kept floating around him. There were more tools like the ones Soos always carried on his belt. There were also big bags of candy, and even an enormous burrito with a Mexican flag stuck on it.

"I guess… this might not be even Oregon." Soos finally said.

"Actually, it is." He heard familiar voice, one that he hadn't heard for a while.

He turned around again, and in front of him was… Soos.

"This is my mind, dude."

"You…" Soos said in total disbelief.

"Yeah, it's me. Surprised? You shouldn't be, considering that it was you the one who locked me up here."

"But… how…" He looked up in many directions. "Why am I here?!… And you! You were supposed to be sleeping!"

"I was at first. But then I woke up, and I saw all the things you did. You have caused too much trouble, dude."

Soos was thinking. He finally remembered it. "Of course! That soda! They made me drink it! Bastards! They got lucky!... Where the heck are they! I'm gonna totally kill them!"

"They're just out there."

Soos pointed to the sky. Soos looked on that direction. A giant television screen appeared on the air. The faces of Dipper, Stan, and Mabel were on it. Soon their voices could be heard also.

"Soos. Soos! Can you hear us?" Mabel asked.

"Mabel. I told you. We'll have to wait."

"They're fine. This is how I was watching you all the time." Soos said.

Soos looked at them. They were fine. Well, not for long, he thought. "Outside, right? That's where I have to go!"

"Oh sorry, dude. I cannot let you do that." Soos told him. "At least not how you want."

Soos turned to him.

"Excuse me? What did you…"

"You heard me. You hurt them all. Everyone. Even Waddles. You are not going to take control of me again."

"Oh really?" Soos said with an evil smile. "I'm gonna have to disagree with you."

"You are not listening. You have lost. They defeated you. They sent you here. And there's only one way out of here."

"Hmmm… interesting. Well, just tell me where the exit is, and we won't lose any more time."

"No way dude."

Soos frowned. "Ahhhhhhhhhh! Tell me where it is!" He ran and lunged toward Soos. However, Soos jumped and floated in the air before being tackled.

"Hey! No need to be aggressive!"

Soos stood up and looked at him. "You can't escape from me!"

He also jumped and flew to Soos. He grabbed him by the neck.

"Ahhhh! Stop doing that!"

"Tell me where it is!"

The two struggled in the air for a while. Finally, Soos felt suffocated by Soos' grip and they both fell to the ground.

Soos got over Soos, his hands still trying to choke him.

"Come on, Soos! I will find it somehow by myself eventually. I know you as well as you do!" He pressed harder on Soos' neck. He just loved how that felt.

"Noooooo… aghhhh!"

"But if you tell me now, I promise I'll make Dipper and Mabel suffer only a little before killing them!"

Soos took Soos' hands and pushed strongly. "Never! I'll never tell you how to get to that floating EXIT door up there!"

Soos stopped crushing Soos' neck and looked up. A big blue door was suspended high on the air. It had the word "EXIT" written on its top.

"Hahahahaha. That wasn't so brilliant from you, Soos." He said releasing him. "I'll see you… No, you'll see me later!"

He flew to the door.

"No! Wait!"

Soos turned the doorknob and the door opened. "Don't worry! I'll soon let you out! I don't want another Soos inside MY head!"

"No, don't do it!"

Soos went through it.

Soos remained looking up.

Suddenly, a cry of fear was heard from the Soos that had gone through the door.

"Ahhhhhhhh!"

It was followed by loud barking.

"I warned you." Soos said and got off the ground. He also flew to the door.

Soos' head came out of the door. "Oh my! What was that?!"

He was pulled inside, but he clung to the doorframe.

"What is this?! You said it was the exit!"

Soos came close to him. "I'm sorry, dude. I guess you don't know me as well as you thought. After all, it's MY head."

Soos pointed up. They both saw as the word "EXIT" changed to "NIGHTMARES".

"WHAT!"

"Yeah, it wasn't so brilliant from you. Now, if you excuse me, I'll go back to the real world. But don't worry, you are coming too… soon."

A large dog paw emerged from inside the door and grabbed Soos.

"NO! WAIT!"

"Yeah… nightmares. They always blow your mind."

The paw pulled Soos inside. "NOOOOOOOOOO!"

Soos moved away from the door. There was some more barking and screaming before it finally closed.

"I hope that will be enough." He said.

Right after he finished speaking, everything vanished around him. There was no more ground or sky. Only white light surrounding him.

"Yes!" He yelled, and closed his eyes.

...

..

.

"Yeah, it's true! He did it again!" Mabel shouted happily.

Dipper had seen Soos look directly at him. And he did it again.

"Is he waking?!" Stan asked.

Soos blinked several times until the images in front of him were clear. He looked around at everybody.

"Soos…" Dipper looked directly into his eyes. "Is that really you?"

There was silence. Soos broke it after a while.

"Of course it's me, bro!"

Everybody sighed relieved when they heard Soos' old voice.

"Who were you expecting? Anti-Soos?"

Dipper laughed. "Actually, that's exactly who I feared could show up."

"Well, no need to worry." Soos said. "I've already taken care of him."

"So you defeated him?! I-I mean, you destroyed him?!" Dipper asked excited.

"Dude, it was you who defeated him. All of you guys! Really! You should've watched yourselves! It was… like the ultimate fight or something!"

"Wait" Mabel said. "Were you watching us?"

"Yeah! And forgive me, dudes. I wanted to help you, but it was impossible. I was trapped in there."

"Well! That's very interesting! Now that you are all safe, would you mind helping me a little?"

They heard a familiar voice. When they looked at one side, they saw Bloomscorch crawling over the gum covered floor. He was still trapped in a mess of rope.

"Oh Bloomscorch! We are so so sorry for forgetting about you!" Mabel ran to him.

"I was trying to release myself all the time." The monster said. "It was hard without the knife. You could have given it to me before leaving, Grunkle Stan."

"Hehe… I'm sorry, pal. I was on a hurry, trying to save the kids. So, no hard feelings, right?"

"Not at all." Bloomscorch smiled. They cut the ropes around the monster. "Now, we could use some of this." He extracted the can of gum dissolving soda from his pocket and approached Soos. He had to use almost all of its content.

"Oh, thank you, buddy." Soos said as the gum around him evaporated, letting him out.

Two objects fell to the floor when Soos stepped out of the gum: Mabel's grappling hook and Dipper's journal.

"Come here you!" Mabel leaned to grab her grappling hook. She felt a little shiver when touching it. "Well. This should never fall again into the wrong hands."

Dipper cleaned the cover of his book. "Good! I thought I'd never see it again." He said.

"So…" Stan said. "You were also listening to everything we were saying?" Stan rubbed the back of his head."

Soos looked at him. "Yes…" He looked down. "Were you uh…Did you really mean all those things you said about me, Mr. Pines? Or were you just faking and trying to fool that other guy."

"Of course not!" Stan yelled. "I-I mean, it was real… well, maybe I kind of exaggerated a bit with the screaming, but that's uh… that's pretty much what I think."

A tear dropped from Soos' eye. "Oh Mr. Pines… Come here dude!" He embraced Stan in a big hug.

"Oh, okay…" Stan patted his back. "Yes… awkward moment."

Soos broke the hug and cleaned his face.

"Soos!"

Mabel jumped to him when he was turning around, and hugged his neck. "I'm so so happy you are back!" She said closing her eyes.

Dipper did the same with Soos' belly. "Yeah, buddy! I… I missed you a lot!"

"I missed you too!" Soos hugged them both.

Dipper separated from him. "So, what really happened to the other guy?"

"Well, I don't know. I thought I would see him somehow here. I was… Owwwww"

Soos clutched his stomach. "I… I… I think I had too much soda… whoaaaaa"

"It must be the Smile Dip. We gave him a lot." Mabel said.

"Dude, I think I maybe want to puke a…"

"Don't worry. The feeling will fade away. Mabel has gone through it before, and we know… whoa! What is that?!"

A green light appeared under Soos' shirt. It ascended quickly to his throat and got to his mouth.

"Oh no! Sorry dudes… Ghaaaaaaa…"

Soos spitted out of his mouth something that was shining in green light. It landed some feet away from them on the gum.

"Oh boy, is that…" Dipper said.

"Yes… the Trickster's heart!" Bloomscorch said.

The thing was a deformed amount on black matter with green sparkles on it. It was surrounded by a green aura. Suddenly, it ascended on the air.

It had been defeated. They were smarter than it, and they expelled it from its host. It needed a host to be able to do what it was meant to do. So it looked for a new one.

It looked around and saw six candidates. Actually five. It wouldn't pick Soos again. It didn't want to go into the pig either. That would have been very inconvenient. So it directed its attention to a weak twelve year old boy. His body had been seriously damaged. He wouldn't be able to fight against it. It had made its choice.

Everybody saw how the thing that had come out from Soos glowed and flew to them with incredible speed. Dipper realized it was coming to him. "Uh-oh."

Just before it reached the boy's mouth, Bloomscorch jumped in front of him, opening his own mouth.

That was not where it wanted to go. _NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!_

The monster took it inside and closed his mouth. His eyes glowed and his whole body flashed and changed to many colors. There was a brief vibrating sound before he regained his normal appearance.

He turned around. "Done!"

"Wh-what was that?!" Stan asked.

"That…" The monster said. "Was him… or it. It doesn't matter. Now it's gone!"

"Did you really just eat it?!" Soos said in panic.

"Relax buddy. I told you guys. That was why I came here. To eat the Trickster's body and store that evil force inside me." He patted his stomach. "Thanks to you, I finally did it! Yes baby!" He raised his arms.

Everybody was still a little shocked.

"So, we did it, right?" Mabel said. "We won! Woo-hoo!" She also agitated her arms and turned to her brother.

"Yes, Mabel. We won." They smiled widely and fist bumped.

Stan leaned and hugged them both. "I just want to tell you I'm really proud of you two. Especially you, Dipper. That… was manly."

Dipper smiled at him. "Thanks, Grunkle Stan. It really hurts to be a man."

"Oh, you have no idea!" Stan said. Mabel elbowed him.

"Hey! I think I kinda helped a little too, right?"

"Oh yeah, little weasel! You sure did!" He said giving her a noogie. "Now that you mention it, how did you manage to break that gum with only your hands? I couldn't believe my eyes!"

"Yes Mabel." Dipper said. "H-how did you do that?"

Mabel rolled her eyes. "Well, nobody messes with MY brother without ME doing something about it. I don't really know… the sugar maybe?"

Dipper smiled at her. "Well, whatever it was, I'm glad it happened."

Waddles came to Mabel oinking and jumping.

"WADDLES! How could we forget about you?! My tiny, chubby and pinky hero who saved us three times tonight!" She rubbed her cheek against his.

"Wow dudes. It's been a crazy night!" Soos said. "I… I just wish we had something to remember it… If only we had had a camera crew with us. Like in those haunted houses movies. They would've followed us all the night and recorded everything!"

"Yeah…" Dipper said. "Hey! Wait just a second! We don't need a camera crew! We had our own camera! Where is it?!"

He looked everywhere. Without any particular reason he looked up and saw it. The device was hanging from the ceiling by a piece of gum. It had been tossed there when he made the last trapping gum explode. As if that wasn't lucky enough, the camera was pointing to them.

"What are the chances of that happening?" He asked himself.

With the help of Soos, he reached it and used the last of the soda to clean the gum off it.

The camera was on and recording. The time on it was eighteen minutes before four o'clock in the morning. He searched for the record files.

"I can't believe it! Everything is here! Hahaha!" He laughed excited. "This material is priceless! Now no one would dare to say we are crazy kids, Mabel!"

"I really hope you're right, kid." Stan approached him. "Because we're gonna need to sell as many copies of it as we can in order to survive."

"What are you talking about? We're not gonna sell this as if it was fake Mystery Shack merchandise. This footage has to be taken to an expert to be analyzed!"

"Well, before you do that, maybe you should start analyzing our situation." He walked to the center of the museum. "Can you guys imagine how much it's gonna cost to repair all this damages? The shack is completely ruined! Especially the museum and the gift shop. We can't open like this in the next few hours! There are no attractions at all. And let's not talk about the house. It's a mess."

They walked to Stan. "What do we do now?" Dipper asked.

Stan sighed. "The way I see it, we're completely out of service for a few weeks. I'll have to use my precious savings to get the shack fixed, but until that, we'll have to move to a motel or something. I just hope this town and we can survive without the Mystery Shack for a while."

The kids were also worried. Maybe they'd have to return home after this. That was something they didn't want.

"Oh come on, guys." Bloomscorch said. "It's not that bad. At least you're together, right?"

Mabel looked at him. "You're right, Bloom. But I think we are broke, and Grunkle Stan is gonna lose all his customers." She said with a sad face.

Bloomscorch felt really bad.

"Well, like he said, as long as we are together everything will be fine… I guess." Dipper said.

Stan looked at him. "You know, kids, maybe it would be better if you go back to Piedmont for the rest of the summer. I think that's what your parents would like. I'd better call them as soon as the sun comes up. That is, if the telephones are still working."

Dipper and Mabel didn't want to hear those words. They knew it was probably going to end that way.

"Oh dudes, I'm really sorry!" Soos said. "It was all because of me! If only I hadn't eaten that candy!"

"It's not your fault, Soos." Mabel said, grabbing his arm. "We… we will be fine."

There was a silence between them. Bloomscorch couldn't take it anymore. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Okay" He said. "There's a way to fix all this."

"What are you talking about?" Dipper asked.

"I'm saying that I can help you with this, so you can get your house fixed right now."

"Thanks little freak." Stan said. "But unless you can do magic, I don't know how… Ohhhhh"

Bloomscorch gave him a look. "It's not magic anyway." Then he took another item from his pocket. It was a shining metal sphere. "Look guys, I'm not supposed to use this. So, if I do it, don't ever mention it, okay?"

Everybody was confused.

"Just gather around me."

They obeyed. Bloomscorch stayed on the center of the group. "Now, don't ask me how it works, but this will help you." He placed a hand on the sphere and whispered something in an unknown language. "Okay, stay close, and don't panic."

They heard a whistling, and the shack started to vibrate again. Dipper looked down. There was a lot of debris on the floor. Pieces of wood and glass moved away from them. Dipper followed them to the walls with his eyes. He saw the windows shaking. Then, he saw something amazing.

The bent wood of the frames returned to its original position. The glass that had been broken came from nowhere and formed again the glass panel. In a matter of seconds, the window looked as new.

The same thing was happening all around them. The gum that had given them so much trouble was retreating and converging on one single point. The wood boards of the floor joined again, covering the big holes that were scattered all over it. Stan watched in disbelief as the fur, wire and other elements stacked over the feet of the Sascrotch to rebuild his most valuable attraction.

All over the room, the objects returned to their respective spots, and what had been broken repaired itself. It was as if someone had pressed a magical rewind button. The mirrors were fixed in a minute, and just like in a fairy tale, they went out of the museum one by one, through the curtained door.

"Now we can move." Bloomscorch announced. "Let's follow those mirrors. I bet you'll want to see the rest of your house is perfectly fine."

They ran behind the mirrors. As they entered the gift shop, they saw all the damage on it was also being fixed. The window Stan broke was finishing assembling and the big stone disk had returned to its location in one of the corners. The exit door was also completely repaired.

"How is this possible?" Dipper said in awe. "How do you…"

"Hey! I told you. Don't ask." He pointed to the last mirror, which was going through the "Employees Only" door. "Let's go to the living room."

They entered the living room. A few hours ago, Soos had made a complete mess there. Stan had almost cried when he saw his TV destroyed. Now, it looked as old as always, but it was in one piece. The rest of the furniture was on its place.

"So" Bloomscorch said. "I guess all those mirrors will go back to where they belong. You don't have to worry anymore. Everything is exactly where it was before the other Soos showed up. Also, you'll be glad to know that your toy guns are perfectly safe on your room."

He was right. All the items from the kitchen that had been blocking the porch door, and that were set on fire after that, had returned to their place. The attic and the kids' room were as messy as they always were. The roof had also been repaired. Even Wendy's secret spot had been rebuilt.

"Wha… wha…" Stan tried to say something. "T-this is great! F-for a moment I thought we were actually in trouble! Haha! Come here little freak!"

Stan embraced the monster so hard his eyeballs looked as if they were going to explode.

"You… you are welcome." He told Stan when he released him.

"Sweet, Bloom! Now we don't have to leave the shack before the summer ends! Thanks a lot!"

She was going to give him another hug, but Bloomscorch stopped her. "Okay, okay. I know. We don't have to get so physical."

"Still, thanks buddy. This means a lot to us." Dipper said.

"Well, it's the least I could do. Considering that you helped me to complete my first mission ever."

Dipper smiled at the monster in silence. It had been a crazy night. Things got really dangerous at some points, but luckily, it all had ended well.

"Then, I guess you'll be leaving now…" He said with a little sadness in his voice.

Bloomscorch sighed. "Yeah, you know. I'm gonna be kind of busy for some days. I mean, the extraction process is very quickly, but I'll have to answer a lot of questions. Tests will be done, Oh! And don't ask me about the paperwork that will result from all of this. Hehehe…"

"Oh, Bloom. We'll never forget you." Mabel said approaching him. "Especially because we'll have this awesome movie of we three kicking Anti-Soos' butt!"

Bloomscorch looked a little worried. "Yeah… about that. You guys can not tell anyone about me or the candy, or all that happened here tonight. We prefer to remain undercover…"

"What are you talking about?!" Grunkle Stan interrupted him. "We defeated that evil guy, whoever he was, and we have enough evidence on that camera to prove it! Oh boy! Can you imagine how much money we can still make from it? I'm talking about big screenings every night! With special tours through the real locations where everything happened!"

"No! You can't do it!" Bloomscorch said really worried.

"Why not, dude?" Soos asked him. "I'm sure everyone will love you!"

Bloomscorch closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Okay, you know what? I think I have something that I can give to you in exchange for your silence."

"And what is it exactly?" Stan asked.

Bloomscorch took out a plastic bag from his pocket. "Fortune cookies!"

Stan looked at him disappointed. "I don't think so. I used to offer them on the gift shop, but people complained a lot because their fortune never came true."

"Oh, but I'm sure you never offered these. They are one hundred percent guaranteed to be true. Every one of them. You just have to read the fortune while eating it. Come on! Try some before deciding."

The monster offered a cookie to Stan. He took it, not really excited about it. Bloomscorch also gave one to Soos.

"Look, if they are a lie, I will know. I have a lot of experience with these things."

"Trust me!" Bloomscorch said. "They will make you forget about selling that recording!"

Dipper suddenly felt something wasn't right.

Stan extracted the tiny piece of paper containing his fortune. He read it while eating the cookie.

"You are not going to... you are not going to remember anything about this night?"

Stan was confused. But soon it made sense to him.

"…anything about this night." Soos read too. "Interesting…" He said.

They didn't say anything for like a minute.

Dipper and Mabel looked at their Grunkle's face, then at Soos. They were staring at nothing. The twins approached them.

"Stan? W-what's happening? What was your fortune?" Dipper asked him.

"Soos! Are you okay? Was it something bad what you read there?" Mabel moved Soos' body.

They didn't react. Mabel continued to shake Soos. He suddenly blinked.

"Wow. What? Bad? No! It wasn't something bad. Just a little strange. It says I won't remember anything about tonight."

Mabel and Dipper looked at each other with concern.

"I mean, it was strange because it's absolutely true!" Soos said. "I can't remember anything! Isn't this scary, Mr. Pines?"

"It sure is! I stopped buying these useless cookies a long ago, but who would've known? This one was completely accurate. I can't even remember what I'm doing downstairs…"

He saw the twins. "Kids?! Why are we all up from bed? Was it one of those little tremors that only take place at one spot? I heard they are very… wow! Kid! What happened to your face?!"

Stan grabbed Dipper's face and examined it. He had stains of dried blood near his mouth and nose. Also he had one black eye. His hair was messier than it used to be, and his clothes were wrinkled.

"What?! Don't you guys remember it? Bloomscorch! What did you gave them to…"

Bloomscorch was gone. He had exited the living room some minutes ago.

"What are you saying, kid?" Stan told him.

Dipper couldn't believe it. "What?! Bloomscorch! The candy monster! Come on guys, you have actually forgotten all the things we did tonight?"

Stan rubbed the back of his head. "Monster?"

"Yes! Bloomscorch!" Dipper said.

"Bless you kid." Stan told him.

Dipper rolled his eyes. "Ahhh! He erased their memories, Mabel!"

"Bloom? But how? And why?"

"I wish we could ask… him." Dipper saw the monster through one window. He was outside the shack, jumping and making signs to them.

Dipper didn't know what it was, but there sure was a good reason to make Stan and Soos forget about everything. He decided to play along with the monster until he could talk to him.

"Uuuuuh… Yeah! That's exactly what happened, Grunkle Stan." Dipper said. "One of those mini-tremors that only affect one place. Haha! Yeah. It hit the shack while we were sleeping. Mabel and I were trying to get out, but it was so dark I tripped and fell downstairs."

"Wow. I can't remember it." Soos said.

"I guess you two woke up too fast. Sometimes it has that effect." Dipper said, hoping they would believe that.

"I guess you're right." Stan said. "B-but what is Soos doing here anyway? It's like four in the morning!"

"He was here for another Horror Sleepover!" Mabel said. "But it was cancelled, because everybody fell asleep. You first, Soos."

"Oh, yeah. I think I can remember something about that."

Dipper was relieved. They bought it. Now, he wanted to talk with Bloomscorch.

"So, it's still dark, and my whole body is killing me. I think we'll just go to bed now." He took Mabel's hand and advanced to the porch door. "Good night Grunkle Stan!"

"Wait kid! I think you should get those bruises examined. You know, all my employees must be able to work at their full capacity."

Dipper tried to think on something. "I… I… It was nothing. I'm totally fine. But I think I heard noises coming from the museum. Maybe some attraction fell down."

When Stan listened to that, the look on his face changed. "What?! Oh no! That's the last thing I need! Soos, since you are here so early, give me a hand."

"Yes, Mr. Pines!" They went to the gift shop and then to the museum.

...  
...

The kids went outside the shack. Bloomscorch came out from some bushes.

"So it wasn't fortune cookies after all." Dipper said.

"Sorry kids. I had to do it. They were out of control. As I told you, we want to keep this on secret. That's why we sometimes use this 'rewind machine' to erase all major evidence."

"Oh, so that's why you used it here." Mabel said.

"No. A destroyed shack is not what we call major evidence. Trust me, we have faced much bigger problems. This could have easily been caused by a gas explosion or something like that." Bloomscorch took a little bag from his pocket. "I used it because… I didn't want to see you guys being that miserable."

"Yeah… Thanks again for that." Dipper said.

"Yeah… Unfortunately… since I used something you were not supposed to know of its existence, and since you came in contact with all this candy tech… I… I'm gonna have to make you forget too."

Bloomscorch extracted something from the bag. Before the kids could react, Bloomscorch was aiming a party pooper at their faces.

"Wait… what?!" Dipper said.

"The cookies aren't the only item that can erase memory. We only use them as a trap. This memory party pooper is what we normally use."

The kids walked back. "Hey, man… y-you don't have to… w-we promise we won't tell anybody, right Mabel?"

"Yeah! Nobody ever believes us anyway!"

Bloomscorch walked to them. "I have to kids. Why do you think nobody knows about us? This is the standard procedure after coming in contact with humans."

The kids stopped walking when they got to a wall of the shack. There was no escape.

"Oh please, Bloom. After all we've come through together. Are you really going to do it?" Mabel said.

"I will." He said, getting ready to fire.

Dipper and Mabel hugged each other.

"Okay!... Then, just do it already!" Dipper said. He and Mabel closed their eyes.

Bloomscorch looked at them. There was silence. Seconds passed and nothing happened.

"I mean… I must do it." The monster said. "I must… but I can't."

The twins opened their eyes. "Really?" Mabel asked.

"Yeah…" Bloomscorch lowered the party pooper. "I can't erase your memories guys. That wouldn't be the right thing to do after all you did for me."

"Oh Bloom!" Mabel ran to him and almost choked him with a hug. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"Ufff…Yeah, yeah." He said when she released him. "Many rules were broken tonight, so I guess one more won't make any damage."

"Won't you get yourself in trouble for this?" Dipper asked him.

"Nah, we have more important things to worry about than two kids saying they saw a candy monster. Especially if they have nothing to prove it." Bloomscorch took Dipper's camera out of nowhere and threw it at him.

"What? How did you get it…"

He saw the monster was holding the memory card with his fingers.

"Hey! Give it back!"

Bloomscorch put it on his interdimentional pocket.

"It's already gone, Dipper. But don't worry. You'll have it back after I remove the events from tonight."

"Oh man! That's not fair!" Dipper said.

"Don't worry Dipper!" Mabel said. "We don't need a video to remember Bloomscorch!"

"No. But that was probably the best paranormal activity recording in history."

"Oh, people would've said it was a fake video." Mabel told him.

"I guess…" Dipper said disappointed. "So, are Soos and Stan gonna be okay?"

"Yes, don't worry. It doesn't cause any harm to the people's brain."

"Then, why didn't you use it against the other Soos? It could have helped!"

"I doubt it. Both the cookies and the party poopers were created to work on human minds. That other Soos was not human."

"Still" Mabel said. "I wish you hadn't erased their memories. Soos and Stan were getting along pretty well."

Bloomscorch smiled. "You don't have to worry about that either. They only forgot the things that happened tonight. Their emotions are something different. Even if they don't remember what they said or listened to, the way they feel towards each other will be the same. I can assure you that Grunkle Stan is gonna be at least a little nicer with Soos."

The twins smiled at each other. "Well that's good news." Dipper said.

They all three remained in silence for a moment.

"Well… we… we just would like to thank you for everything." Dipper said. "You know, for coming here tonight and help us. We would have been lost without you, Bloomscorch."

"On the contrary." The monster said. "I have to thank you Dipper and Mabel, for helping this inexperienced guy on his first mission. You… you were the real heroes tonight."

"Oh, you are just saying that." Mabel said blushing.

"No! It's the truth guys. I mean, you saved me. If it wasn't for you, I would have run away and we wouldn't have retrieved this evil force. It probably would've destroyed the whole town with you included."

"Yeah." Dipper said. "That could have happened."

"I'm really thankful to you. I… I just wish I had something to give you, Wait a second… let's see… if… in this interdimentional thing…" He searched on his pocket and took something out. They were some pieces of candy.

"Cool! Is that some special candy that grants us some supernatural abilities?"

"No, they are not." The monster said.

"What do they do?" Dipper asked.

"They… they do nothing." Bloomscorch said a little sad. "It's just some loser candy I took earlier in your room, thinking it looked suspicious. I'm sorry guys. I don't have more of the cool stuff left."

"Oh… Oh well." Dipper said. Then he took some candy from the monster's hand. "It's okay! Who wants to celebrate with loser candy?"

"I want!" Mabel said.

Bloomscorch smiled widely.

Dipper gave some to his sister. Then he raised his hand on the air. The others imitated him.

"For friendship!" Mabel yelled.

"Alright!" Dipper said. They looked at Bloomscorch.

"Sure. For friendship"

They all ate the candy in silence.

"Wow, it's really bad." Mabel said.

"Yeah…" The boys said.

"So tell us Bloomscorch." Mabel said still chewing the awful candy. "Are you some kind of Candy Fairies?"

"Well… we are not fairies as you can see. Let's just say we are some kind of quick response team against every evil threat related to food. My section deals with food for children."

"Wow!" Said Mabel. "That's so awesome! Now we have a friend on the special supernatural forces! Hey, if you need help anytime, you can contact us!"

"Well, it's not that simple for a human to become one of our collaborators… wait! No! That's not what you think!"

"Woo-hoo!" Mabel screamed.

"Mabel calm down… what? Really? Can we be part of your organization?"

"Oh boy… You weren't supposed to know that. I suck at keeping classified information safe."

"Yes!" Mabel yelled again. "So is there an academy for humans? We're gonna need awesome nicknames, Dipper!"

"Mabel! Calm down! We're not even supposed to know about this!"

"I'm thinking that you could be the Candy Monster! And you Dipper, you could be something like… Adorkable Guy. That's so appropriate for you!"

"Mabel…"

"And I of course will be the Gravity Falls Chick! Who…"

"Mabel! Stop!" Dipper yelled. "And besides, that nickname already belongs to someone."

"What? Really?"

"Yes. There's a girl on the internet that uses it. She writes uh… weird stuff."

"Ah! Dang! I hate her!" Mabel turned her hands into fists. "Well, it's not like I can't think on something better."

"I'm sure you can." Dipper walked to Bloomscorch.

"So, I guess this time you DO have to leave."

"Yes. The sun will rise in a few hours. I should better hurry."

"I'll miss you Bloomscorch! Don't forget us please! And about that admission to your group…"

"I'll miss you too, Mabel. I'll see what I can do." They got close for one last hug.

Dipper extended his arm to him.

"Thanks again, for everything."

"The same to you. It was a pleasure."

They shook hands. Dipper lowered his head so no one could see his eyes.

"Oh God, Dipper. Are you crying?" Mabel asked.

"…what?... no…"

"Yes you are!"

"Mabel! I'm not!... I'm a man!"

"It's alright little bro!" Mabel said, poking him on his face and stomach. "Cry! Cry! Cry!"

"No!... Mab… just… stop… it… ahhh!" Dipper tried to block her fingers, showing his wet eyes.

"Hahaha." Bloomscorch laughed. "You really are weird, kids."

They exchanged looks one last time before the monster walked to the trees. Then he looked back.

"I'll see you around... Mystery Twins." He said.

He waved his hand, and with that, he entered the forest.

Dipper sat on the grass with his back on the wall. Mabel joined him.

"Well, this was… a different night." He said looking at the sky. There were some stars on it, and the moon had appeared again between the clouds.

"Yeah. It was really crazy." Mabel was also looking up. She then turned to Dipper. "Especially when you put me on your shoulders. How did you do it with that weak body of yours?"

"I-I don't know. I think it was the perception of danger."

"Awww. You had an adrenaline rush because of me? That's so sweet." Mabel hugged him.

"Thanks." He said, hugging her too. "Also, thanks for saving me from that psycho Soos."

Dipper felt Mabel's body tensed.

"Hey, are you okay?"

She hugged him really hard.

"I... I almost... I almost lost you Dipper!" Her voice cracked.

He also embraced her deeply. "Yes... I almost lost you too." Tears ran through his face one more time.

"Let's not do it again, okay?" She said.

He smiled. "Okay"

They remained like that for a moment. Then Mabel broke the hug and laid her head on his shoulder. She yawned.

"You know, Dipper, I think you totally made it up to me for trying to ditch me on Summerween."

"It's good to hear that." His eyes were closing. He was also very tired. "Maybe... we should go to the attic now... Mabel..." He rested his head on hers.

"Too many steps... Let's just stay... here... for a while." She said, falling asleep.

"If you wish..." He fell asleep too.

...  
...

"So, did he actually do it?" Wendy asked him.

"Of course!" Soos answered. "He told me this morning! He just needs some photographs from us to complete all the paperwork."

They were at the gift shop. Wendy was on her usual spot behind the cash register. Soos was in front of the counter, drinking a bottle of a golden soda.

"Cool! Paid vacations and accident and sickness insurance! I can't believe we are talking about Stan." Wendy said.

"Yeah." Soos said. "He told me he didn't want to get in trouble with the government, but I know he really wanted to do something nice for us."

"Wow, that is so… not Stan."

...  
...

"Well, what do you say?" Bloomscorch asked.

"Absolutely not!" The creature in front of him told him.

"Oh really? I just thought that…"

"They are children, 6-18! You have to wait at least until they turn thirteen to recommend them for collaboration service."

"Oh!... Of course. That's alright." He said. Mabel still had a chance.

"Now." His superior continued. "The video you brought has been very helpful to us on studying the real capacities of this entity. We'll have to conduct more experiments to understand it completely though. You were exposed to this strange force for an entire night so… would you be interested in spending some time on Research?"

"You know something?" Bloomscorch said. "I think I could go there for a while and give you a hand, but I would like to be back on the field as soon as possible. Maybe I could stay on this part of the globe… if that's okay with you."

"As you wish 6-18." He said. "But don't get too used to it. Evil can strike anywhere at any time."

"You don't need to tell me."

-o-

_And so, that was the end of it. The scariest, strangest, and most dangerous night Mabel and I had in Gravity Falls. Well, at least until now._

_Everything went back to normal after that. Grunkle Stan hasn't told us about the secret storage room below the gift shop yet. Maybe he never will, but it's cool to have one place to hide and have fun for a while without him even imagining where we are. However, we have to be careful not to leave any trace when we go down there. But that's just Grunkle Stan, always hiding things. At least he treats Soos better now. Unfortunately, we might have gotten ourselves some more chores in the shack._

_We haven't had any notice from Bloomscorch, except for one morning, two days after that night, when we found a strange package on the window of our room. It contained the memory card that was of course missing those few hours of supernatural events. There was also a box of multicolored candy, which I had to hide from Mabel because she wanted to eat it the moment she saw it. I'll let her have some when I finish reading the indications Bloomscorch left in a note. I hope he didn't send us anything too dangerous._

_And that's all about it. I have to say that despite our life changed just a little after this experience, I think we learned an important lesson. Emotions are something powerful. They can help you to do good things, but they can also try to kill you. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT underestimate them. Especially when there are supernatural forces involved._

Dipper stopped writing. He placed the pen on the mattress and took a final look at the pages he had filled with the narration of the events. He titled it "The Mystery Shack's Night After Summerween Madness".

"Hey Mabel, it's finished!" Dipper said, getting off his bed and sitting on the edge of it.

Mabel looked at him from the other side of the room. "Oh. Good for you, Dipper!"

"So, what do you think?" He asked his sister, showing her the journal opened.

Mabel was busy putting some boxes back on a shelf. "Oh well." She said without looking at him. "Besides the fact that no one will believe a single word of what you wrote…" She held a box in her arms and turned to him. "I think the title is too long."

Dipper chuckled. "Well Mabel, this journal is full of things no one believes in, except for us."

He got on his feet and walked to his sister, who continued with her work.

"I also think it's a long title, but it's appropriate enough. It describes well the whole thing."

"If you say so." Mabel said, putting another box on its place.

"And… also… I couldn't think of anything better." Dipper looked to one side a little annoyed. "Technically, since almost everything happened after midnight, it wasn't really, hehe, a 'night'! But… I wasn't gonna call it 'early in the morning', right?"

Mabel placed one last box on the shelf. "There! I finished too, Dipper!"

"Great. I was thinking you could read this and give me an honest opinion." He concentrated again on the book. "Maybe correct some little mistakes since I can't remember by myself the parts you told me about. You know, being unconscious was…"

Mabel snatched the journal from Dipper's hands and threw it to his bed.

"Hey! Why did you do that?!"

"We can take care of your writing later. Now, we're ready to begin!"

"Begin with what?" Dipper asked confused.

"You'll need this." Mabel handed him a tiny spoon.

"We... Are we gonna eat something?" He asked.

"Not 'we' silly! Just you!" Mabel said smiling widely.

She moved to one side. Behind her was an opened box on the floor. It was full of little and colorful plastic bags.

"Oh… that." Dipper said, finally understanding.

Mabel took one of the bags and gave it to her brother. "You didn't forget about it, did you?"

"No. Of course not."

"Then, go on Dip!"

"Yeah… it's just that…" He said a little nervous.

"What?"

"Uh… well" He hesitated for some seconds. Then, he took a deep breath and looked directly into her eyes. "Mabel, I don't think it's a good idea. We both know how dangerous this is."

"Oh, come on Dipper. You promised!"

"Yeah, but, I was thinking again and… nobody should eat this thing."

"No buts, bro. You promised to eat a little if I threw it all away. I emptied all the boxes and put all the bags on this one. See? This is all the Smile Dip that I was hiding in the room. Ready to go. Just waiting for you."

Dipper looked at her with a worried face. "Do I really have to?"

Mabel approached him and put an arm around his back. "Come on, Dipper!" She said smiling. "This close to death experience has brought us even much closer! We can now share more of our personal things! This is a good opportunity to start."

Dipper sighed. He had promised. So…

"Okay Mabel." He said. "But if something weird happens, it'll be your fault."

"Don't worry." Mabel said behind the video camera. "If anything happens to you, I'll register it. You know, for science!"

Dipper took another deep breath and opened the bag. Then, he extracted a little of the Smile Dip with the spoon. He put it into his mouth. He tasted it for a second and then swallowed it.

"Soooooo, what do you think?" Mabel asked.

"To be honest…" He said tasting what remained on his mouth. "I was expecting… something worse."

Dipper suddenly felt something rushing to his brain. He saw sparkles everywhere.

"AHHHH!" He yelled scared, dropping the bag.

"What?!" Mabel asked.

"I felt something… extreme." He said while blinking and touching his head. "It probably was nothing… So... I did it. Now get rid of this!"

"A promise is a promise." Mabel said putting down the camera.

"It wasn't that bad. It's… Wait… What the… Mabel?... Why is your face… pixelated?!" He said scared again.

Above Mabel's neck was a set of many tiny squares arranged in a pattern that resembled her normal face.

"What are you talking about, Dipper?" She said confused. Her lips moved awkwardly.

In that moment, Waddles entered the room running. Dipper watched in horror as the pig seemed to teleport from one spot to another, instead of using his legs. He was also formed by tiny squares.

"Waddles! Come here!"

The pig jumped into her arms, leaving a shining trail behind him. Mabel's whole body was now pixelated. Little hearts appeared above them as Mabel hugged Waddles.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhh…" Dipper said.

"Hey, Dipper!" Pixelated Grunkle Stan appeared on the door with a mop and a bucket. "Here you are! Stop hiding in your room. Some birds decided to use the roof as their toilet. I need you to go up there and make the sign shine! Here, use this."

The mop and the bucket flashed on Stan's hands and vanished. They instantly appeared on Dipper's pixelated hands.

In front of his eyes, shining letters showed up:

*v* NEW TASK ASSIGNED! *v*

"Oh, for all the Chaos Emeralds..." Dipper said. "This was not a good idea."

.

.

.

**THE END**


	9. Disclaimer and Trivia

**DISCLAIMER AND TRIVIA**

My first story ever wouldn't be complete without a disclaimer:

**I do not own Gravity Falls, its characters, or anything related to it. All the credit goes to Disney, owner of the show, and to Alex Hirsch, creator of Gravity Falls.**

Now, some interesting things about my fic:

This story was originally published on 2013. The first chapter was posted on November 2, and the last chapter was posted on December 31. A "Disclaimer and Trivia" chapter similar to this one was posted on January 1, 2014. After that, I deleted the story in order to make an appropriate edition work. I started to post the final version on April 1, 2014.

Boring, Oregon, the town from the movie on the first chapter, is not fictional. It does exist in Oregon. Alex Hirsch saw its name on a road sign during the summer of 2006, while he was working at Portland. He never visited it, but he started to imagine how a sleepy town with such a name would be like. Later, it became one of the main sources of inspiration for designing the town of Gravity Falls. This is a fact. You can search for it on the internet.

Dipper doesn't wear his Pine Tree hat in most of this story. He only wears it at the final scene, on the last chapter. As for Mabel, she wears her night gown during all the night. The sweater she wears at the final scene is unknown.

"Inca's Golden Bubbles Cola" is inspired on a real soda that exists in my country. I won't say its true name, since I could get in trouble, but you can easily find it on the internet again. Despite of being the most famous soda in my country, scientists have reasons to believe some of the components responsible for its unique flavor may be severely harmful to people's health.

The nickname Mabel wishes to have on the last chapter, "Gravity Falls Chick", is a reference to our fellow Fanfiction author _GravityFallsChick_. She was the only reviewer this story had for most of the time before the last chapter was posted on December 31, 2013, and I thank her for that.

...

*v* Thanks for reading *v*


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